Life Goes On
by pitaC89
Summary: Sequel to WHAT IF... After four years on Cybertron Koji is finally returning to earth even though he's not to happy about it. He has to face the one ghost he never reconciled with and guess who's back.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Transformers in the least

Koji's 17 in this fic

AN: I usually do a prologue for these but it was the funeral scene in "What If"

Chapter 1

Earth didn't look that different than it had last time he'd seen it. From space it looked exactly the same, though he'd been told the surface looked vastly different with all the Autobot bases, living quarters, and recreation places being built.

He couldn't say the same for the face that was partially reflected in the window. His brown hair, which he'd cut off after his father's death, had grown back out and was now in a short braid. Even though he ate three decent meals a day there wasn't an ounce of fat on him. Physical training three hours in the morning and two hours in the evening every day for the last four years had taken care of that. He'd trained hard so he'd never be at somebody's mercy like he had been to Hao Saka's. His brown eyes didn't have the same ever-trusting look to them but they weren't dead. All in all he looked just like his father had as a teenager. Except for his eyes. Those he'd gotten from his mother.

"How's it feel to be home little bro," a voice came from behind him.

Koji turned to see Sideburn smiling at him. He didn't smile back. There had only ever been two people that made earth home to him. His parents were both dead now, his mother in some war when he'd been three and his father at Scourge's hands. They had been the only humans Koji had ever considered family. His parent's families had never approved of their marriage and by association his birth. Cybertron had become his home four years ago when Optimus had decided to fill the slot of father in Koji's life and he had gain a relatively large family made up of an uncle, three brothers, a father, and for the first time in along time, a mother.

He looked back at the planet he'd been born on. He felt a slight tug at the bottom of his heart when he looked at it. The sight of it brought back memories he'd tried to bury when he left. Old wounds were going to be opened, he'd known that when Optimus had told him he was going back to earth to finish his education. He'd built walls and defenses over the past four years to protect him from the pain and helplessness he'd faced during his younger years. The only people he let in were his family and that was only because they had flat out refused to let him shut them out. He wasn't the weak and vulnerable kid Saka had enjoyed torturing for eight years.

"It's not home," was all he said to his 'brother'.

* * *

"Optimus, the ship will be hear within the hour," T-Ai said appearing next Optimus' desk in his new, much bigger, office in their new main base.

"Good. I should be done with this by then," he said looking at the desk. He hated paper work but it was a necessary evil. He hurried back to work.

T-Ai smiled at this. Optimus had thrown himself into the role of father to an orphaned human and had managed to do a good job considering he'd really known nothing about raising children of any species.

Her smile faded a little with her next words. "Are you sure it's a good idea to make him come back to earth?"

Optimus stopped. He sat in silence for a minute before speaking.

"There are a lot of reasons for Koji to come back here. He hasn't had any interactions with humans his own age in four years. The only humans he spends time with are those scientists and they're twice his age. He needs to be around people his own age. Besides it's very hard too make sure he's alright or check up on him if we are rarely on the same planet. Do you know about some of his extra-circular activities? He was running a few highly classified programs. He's not supposed to know about those much less be running them," Optimus said. "From now Koji will stay on the same planet as I'm on. Plus a human shouldn't stay so long away from earth. The scientists stay only six months at the longest. Koji stayed four years," Optimus stated all of this clearly hoping she wouldn't be curious enough to find out the real reason he was having Koji come back to earth.

"So it has nothing to do with Scourge being sighted on Cybertron."

AN: Fair weekend! Yay. I don't know what they do in other areas but in my county they give us Friday of Fair Weekend off from school. And since I go for the rides Thursday night I have Friday completely free to write. R&R


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 2

"T-Ai-"

"Optimus we're not blind. You're worse than Sideburn was about this. At least he listened when Koji told him that it wasn't his fault and he didn't blame him. It's been four years and you still feel like you let him down somehow," she said, scowling.

"I do not-"

"Yes you do! We've all seen it. You've overcompensated for it too."

"I have not!"

"Then why has Koji always had at least five Autobots watching him at all times?"

"We know he's been targeted by Scourge before and it's well know that I consider him my son. I do have a lot of enemies. Why do you think it was so hard to convince the humans to let me adopt him?"

T-Ai sighed. "Just don't start being too overprotective again. You've tried that before and he fought you every step of the way." They both shuddered at that disastrous incident. Koji had gotten tired of not being able to do anything on his own and decided to vanish for a few days. Everyone who could be spared had combed not only the facilities Koji was authorised to be in but also every inch of Cybertron that was under Autobot control. After four days they finally found him in the restricted zone Primus liked to call home. Optimus had been both mad and worried when he found out. Primus rarely liked visitors trespassing in his domain. Of course Primus hadn't been mad about Koji staying there, he'd enjoyed the company and the chance to get to know Optimus Prime's 'son'.

So Optimus hadn't been able to punish Koji for it since Primus had known and had told anyone even though Optimus had asked him.

"I'm going to give him more freedom on earth. He knows more about the dangers of earth than he does about those of Cybertron," Optimus said.

"So you're not assigning anyone to guard him round the clock?" she said hopefully. No one wanted to have to drop what they were doing to search for the boy because he needed space Optimus wasn't willing to give him. Especially Ultra Magnus who hadn't rested the entire four days Koji had been with Primus. He'd been pissed afterwards and had vowed to never speak to Koji again. A vow he'd kept a grand total of three minutes after Koji had asked him to help plan their next prank on Optimus, something they did on a bi-weekly basis.

"Of course I'm assigning a guard. I don't trust Scourge or Megatron not to find away to get to Koji." Actually Megatron had pretty much left Koji alone since Koji had sent him a nice bumbersticker for Christmas that said 'The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves'.

"Are you sure Koji won't be um … upset about this. Having someone following him all over the base and town isn't exactly something he's really ever enjoyed. Plus, he was only ever really comfortable sharing a barrack with the Autobot brothers or having his own," she said, wondering how long Koji would disappear this time. Probably more than four days, he'd grown up on Earth and knew it better than any of them.

"He's not going to have a barrack. I want him to have a somewhat normal human life here. I've reopened his house," Optimus said.

"Huh?"

"Koji wants some freedom, right?"

"Yeah."

"What more freedom could he ask for than living away from the base?"

"So you're going to let him live alone?"

"No."

"But Koji's house was desiged for humans. How is an Autobot going to… Oh no you're not… You can't… him?" she finished miserably.

"Yes him. Who else can stay inside a human building?" Optimus asked, slightly amused.

"But-"

"No buts T-Ai. It's already been decided."

She was going to say something else but the mainframe contacted her.

"The ship is about to land," she said and then disappeared.

He looked back to his paperwork. "Damnit I haven't even put a dent in this. What am I going to do?"

"The same thing you always do. Ignore it until you can't see your desk anymore then have me do it," a feminine voice said from the door.

Optimus smiled under his faceplate. "I guess so Elita."

* * *

Optimus and Elita watched the ship their 'son' was traveling on land. Once Koji had arrived on Cybertron and Elita found out about his stepmother she'd taken it upon herself to act as mother to him. She'd done a fairly good job too.

Koji and Sideburn were the first two off the ship soon followed by X-brawn, Prowl and Ultra Magnus.

"Koji you've grown a little I think," Elita said trying to determine if he had actually grown. It was hard to tell since humans were so much shorter than transformers.

"Only three inches."

"Hmm. Isn't it about time for you to get a hair cut," she said looking at his braid.

"I like it this way. Plus it's not like I'm going to one of those schools that require military approved hair length," he said.

"So how was the trip?" Optimus said, changing the subject.

"Long."

"Well you can rest after we get you your security detail," Optimus said.

The Autobot brothers and Ultra Magnus flinched at the mention of a security detail. When security detail was mentioned in reference to Koji bad things usually followed.

Koji himself just shrugged, already planning escape routes and disappearing tricks.

"Lets go then," Koji said.

As they walked away Optimus leaned over to Elita and whispered, "When we get back to the base could you-"

"I'll get T-Ai to transfer Koji to a public High school," she whispered back.

"Thanks."

* * *

AN: R&R. I put in Koji's list of Christmas presents for his friends down below because I need to do something to keep from going insane.

List of Christmas Presents

Optimus: Universal peace or bigger office

Ultra Magnus: Blackmail pictures of Optimus or keep Sideburn from bothering him for a week or bumpersticker that says "Everyday I Think People Can't Get Stupider And Everyday I'm Proven Horribly Wrong"

Megatron: Universal domination or Prime's head on a silver platter(Thinking about it if the security detail thing doesn't stop) , maybe a bumpersticker that says 'I Just Want Revenge. Is That So Wrong?'

Prowl: season 1 of COPS on DVD or bumpersticker that says 'Twenty things You Never Say ToA Cop"

X-brawn: John Wayne movie, trip to ATV park, or tickets to see Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy Live

Sideburn: date with Kelly's car or distract Prowl while Sideburn chases red cars

T-Ai: week vacation at virtual spa while Sideburn is on said date and retelling said date

Sky-byte: Book of Haikus or Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson the complete works

Kelly: week free of Sideburn chasing her or pay her therapist bill, maybe buy her a ticket on a singles cruise in the Caribbean far away from Sideburn


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't anything or anybody

AN: Axel's alternate form is a motorcycle

Chapter 3

"So who's my security detail?" Koji asked.

"He's here somewhere."

"K-man!" a Bot who was only about six inches taller than Koji yelled running into the room. Koji smiled as the small Bot reached him and they bumped fists.

"Axel how's it going?" Koji asked.

"Awesome. I'm your new security detail." There were a few disbelieving looks at this annoucement. Not only was Axel not the best warrior, he was also only a teenager by Autobot standards. In the past he'd been the one to help Koji escape his security detail. Koji and him were more likely to spend their time getting into trouble than avoiding it.

"Really. That explains why Optimus didn't try to avoid telling me about security detail," Koji said smiling.

"Yea. So what's first on the agenda?" Axel asked.

"Your taking Koji home so he can rest," Optimus said before Koji say anything.

Koji's head whipped around at what Optimus said. "Home?"

"Yes. Your house. It's been opened, cleaned, and made livable," Optimus said.

Koji looked shocked for a moment then another look replaced it, one they all knew very well and usually ran for cover when they saw it. It meant hell was going to break lose.

"WHAT!"

Several Autobots including the hardened warriors turned and ran.

* * *

...In Some Supply Closet...

"Well all things considered that actually went rather well," Sideburn said wondering if his audio receptors were ever going to return to normal.

"I'm just glad I'm not Optimus right now. I bet Koji's really laying into him," Prowl said.

"Maybe," Optimus said.

"Optimus? Wha' cha doing in here?" X-brawn asked.

"What? Since I'm the leader I automatically have to sacrifice myself. I do have a sense of self-preservation you know," Optimus said.

* * *

"I can't believe he's making me stay there," Koji growled as he and Axel rode through rush-hour traffic. He hated that house and the memories that went with it.

"He wants you to face your problems head on. You've been running from a lot of them four the last four years," Axel said. "You sure you have your helmet on tight enough?"

Koji rolled his eyes "Yes _Mother._" Then he froze feeling a sense of déjà vu. He could almost feel rough cotton on his face and felt an overwhelming sense of sadness.

"Yo K-man, you okay," Axel's voice brought him back to reality.

"Yeah. I'm …fine," he said.

"You sure? You were letting your grip get really lose." Koji tightened his grip on Axel's handlebars.

"Are you sure?" Axel asked concerned.

"Yeah."

"Ok," Axel didn't sound convinced.

* * *

"This is your house? I thought your dad was loaded," Axel said looking at the medium sized home dubiously.

"He was, but he put most of it in savings," Koji said walking through the front door.

"What happened to his savings? That Saka bitch didn't get it did she?" Axel asked ducking his head slightly to fit through the door.

"No. Dad was smarter than that. He put it in his will that I get everything as soon as I turn twenty-one or graduate college. Whichever comes first."

Koji stopped before he reached the hallway that led to the kitchen. "I thought the Sakas would have burned these."

"Huh?" Axel looked around the hallway. It was full of pictures. Looking closer he noticed that all the pictures had a young boy and a man he recognized as Dr. Onishi. The boy he figured was Koji. The pictures went in decreasing chronological order. The ones at the beginning of the hallway must have been taken shortly before Onishi's kidnapping. Moving down the hall the Koji in the pictures got younger until he was what Axel had heard described as a baby. The last three pictures had not only Koji and his father but a woman too. In one picture she was holding Koji on her hip. In another she was holding a newborn Koji in her arms while Dr. Onishi stood with his arms around her, smiling down at his son. In the final picture the woman was dressed in military fatigues and kneeling down hugging a three-year-old Koji who had his face buried in her chest.

"That was the last time I saw her," Koji's voice brought Axel back to the present.

"Huh?"

Koji didn't answer. He just took the picture off the wall, walked into the kitchen and threw it in an empty drawer.

* * *

"We need to get out on the town," Axel said after they had sat and watched TV for three hours straight.

"Where?"

"I've been hanging around here for a month and have been to every teen night club with in the city limits. I think I can find a place," Axel said mock indignantly.

"Teen nightclubs?" Koji asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm your security detail now. If we do anything illegal, 'Daddy Optimus' will bust me down to energon miner," Axel explained.

" 'Daddy Optimus'? Why do I feel like putting on a red wig and singing 'Tomorrow's Only a Day Away'," Koji sighed.

"Huh?"

"Don't ask. Ok let's hit a few clubs," Koji said.

"Actually only one club is in my budget," Axel said sheepishly.

"Have you learned nothing about me in all the years you've known me? Since 'Daddy Optimus' insisted I come back to Earth, 'Daddy Optimus' can pay for my entertainment while I'm here," Koji said with an evil smirk.

* * *

"You know Optimus is going to kill us when he get's the bill for this," Axel yelled over the music.

"He should have known better than to give an unsupervised teenager access to his credit account," Koji yelled back watching the dance floor. There was a mixture of humans and small Autobots dancing, one of the main reasons they'd chosen this place. If they'd gone to an all-human club Axel would have stood out and might have been recognized as Prime's adoptive son's security detail and they'd have been busted. That had happened once or twice on Cybertron except on Cybertron there weren't any teen clubs since Koji was the only human under the age of thirty on the planet. So they'd resorted to a bar where the scientists went to relax after a hard day's work. They'd gone for weeks without getting caught. The only reason they had been caught in the end was because some drunk had thought Koji was a woman and had tried to feel him up. Axel still didn't see why everyone had freaked out so bad. He only punched they guy once to get the message across that his friend was to be treated better than that. Plus the guy's jaw healed... eventually. Koji had gotten it worse though. Optimus was not happy about his adoptive son being dragged home from a bar with alochol on his breath.

"Let's hit the floor," Axel yelled knowing Koji loved to dance. Koji didn't answer. He just got up and walked toward the floor.

Once in the crowd they were quickly separated. Koji was completely at home in the crowd. Even though he would never admit it to Optimus, it was nice to be around humans his own age. Though he wasn't so sure about the girls who were trying to dance to close. He had a girlfriend, even if she wasn't same as these girls.

He didn't have to worry about the girls for long. His cell phone started vibrating. He ran to bathroom to answer it.

"Why aren't you answering your home phone?"

Optimus. Busted.

"It's my first day back, do we have to start the overprotective thing already?" Koji asked.

"You start school tomorrow. You need to be in bed."

"T-Ai managed to transfer that quick?" Koji said in surprise.

"Yes- Oh Damnit!"

"I knew it! You were going to send me to a private school!"

"Just go home- how are you paying for this little outing?" Optimus asked.

"Uhh-"

"I'm going to be getting a interesting bill on my credit account aren't I?" Optimus asked, resigned.

"That would be a good time to remember that you love me."

"Get. Home."

AN: Read and Review


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: IOWNNOTHING

AN: Axel is modeled after my cousin (when he was fifteen) and I used the same name for him I used for one of the twins in "Koji's Son" because I don't think an Autobot would be named KJ. Also before anybody says anything yes I know Axel is spelled Axle but I like this other spelling better. It's actually the name of an ice skating move.

Chapter 4

"So what's on the agenda this morning?" Koji asked conversationally.

"I have to take you to school, go to the base, face the firing squad and then have my remains shipped back to Cybertron," Axel said nonchalantly. "And you?"

"I have to go through the agonizing experience that humans name school. I think you got the better deal," Koji said.

"It can't be that bad. It's just a bunch of other kids," Axel said.

"Do you remember what I was like in class? Now multiply that by a couple thousand," Koji told his friend.

Axel thought about it for a moment and then smiled. "At least they can jettison our remains together."

Koji anime sweat-dropped. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said sarcastically.

* * *

For first period Koji found himself in a small room with nine other students. Apparently this class wasn't very popular. He looked at his schedule. AP Quantum Physics. 'Thank you Optimus. I so wanted to take _this._' He thought.

Koji got a little nervous when the teacher started taking roll. It had been four years but he knew the media had a field day with his story. It wasn't everyday that the son of a famous scientist was taken in by the leader of a race of giant robots who were sworn enemies of the people who killed his father. There had been a lot of speculation as to why Optimus hadn't been prosecuted for kidnapping. The most accurate theory had been that Optimus had taken Koji to protect him, as there had been a danger of Koji ending up like his father. The least accurate, and most amusing, was that Koji was really an alien test tube baby created on Cybertron by Optimus and that Optimus had just been taking him back.

Either way Koji didn't want any extra attention because of what had happened years ago. Of course humans never forget. The entire room went quiet when his name was read. They looked around trying to figure out who exactly went with the name Onishi.

"Mr. Onishi?" the teacher asked again.

"Present," Koji said somewhat reluctantly.

The class remained silent but the only difference was that every eye was focused on him. He felt a slight blush but managed to fight it back down. He sat up straight and stared straight ahead.

The teacher continued with role so everyone eventually stopped staring at him and focused on the teacher. They all seemed to have forgotten him by the time they started discussing one of the new theories.

* * *

Gym, unfortunately, didn't go as well as physics. After seeing that Koji went into a stall to change the guys assumed he was a wimp and decided to pick on him a little. Koji let it slide since it was his first day. Plus he would be in enough trouble with Optimus when he got the bill from last nights outing and figured out where else Koji had gone. There would be time for payback later when he couldn't get in trouble.

When the gym coach announced the day's activity he knew he'd found his payback.

"Ok we're to practice some basic self defense techniques. Who wants to partner with the knew kid?"

One of the boys from the locker room stepped up, grinning annoyingly. Koji recognized as the guy he'd yelled at for walking into his stall before his shirt was completely on. He was still very self-conscious about his back even though he was pretty much over Hao Saka's abuse.

"Ok kid, you do know how to fight, right?" Coach asked. Koji nodded and tried to ignore the cackles coming from some of the boys.

"Begin." Apparently they didn't believe in wasting time because the other boy launched himself at Koji before Coach had finished speaking. He actually almost hit Koji but Koji had years of practice dodging. He managed to avoid everything that was thrown at him by his opponent but unfortunately he didn't expect one of the boys in the crowd to stick his foot out behind him to trip him. The boy he was fighting had obviously told the others about not liking anyone to see his back because as he was falling one of the boys grabbed the bottom of his shirt. His whole back was exposed to the class. Silence, something Koji seemed to inspire everywhere he went, reigned.

Then someone decided to speak. "What the hell happened to you man?" Koji, as usual, didn't answer. He got up, walked straight up to his opponent, pulled his arm back, and punched the other boy solidly on the nose. He heard a satisfying crunch as his fist land. As the boy fell, Koji turned and walked calmly back to the locker room.

* * *

After an interesting incident in the principal's office that involved the football coach (the guy who's nose he broke was the star player, go figure), the boy's parents, the principal, and Optimus and Elita (over the phone since they couldn't fit in the building) it was decided that he would play on the football team until the boy's nose healed. How a broken nose could stop someone from playing football was beyond Koji. Last time he checked you didn't need it to run or throw.

The boy's parents had wanted Koji expelled for savagely attacking their poor little Robbie, but Elita had shut them up by threatening to sue for the emotional trauma of his back being shown since it reminded him of his abusive past. After this little piece of information was revealed Robbie's mom ended up bear hugging Koji saying poor baby over and over.

Luckily he managed to get sent back to class shortly after that.

* * *

He was just in time for lunch. After getting his lunch he had to face the hardest part of the first day of high school, finding a lunch table. All the tables seemed full and Koji didn't recognize anyone from before he left. So he stood in the middle of the room looking like an idiot until he decided to look for someplace that was unoccupied to sit, preferably away from the football players who looked like they wanted to rip him apart.

"Koji!" He turned around to see a boy his age with brown hair and grayish black eyes smiling at him. It took a minute to realize who the was.

"Karl?"

"Yeah man. How's it going?"

"Alright I guess." At least he had a table to sit at now.

* * *

Lunch had gone better than he expected. He and Karl both still loved skateboarding and were going to the skate park on the upcoming weekend. He just had to convince Optimus or Axel to let him go.

His next class was Global Politics. He vaguely wondered if Optimus was trying to give him a hint. Then he saw who taught it. No way. It couldn't be. There was no way anybody would let him teach. Would they?

"Good morning class," the teacher said walking in.

"Good morning Mr. Saka."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 5

'Damnit! What is he doing back?' Hao Saka thought furiously. 'He was suppose to stay on that godforsaken hunk of metal halfway across the universe. I certainly did enough to make him want to stay there!'

Hao had run out of the classroom after seeing Koji. For a moment he could have sworn Hisao had risen from the dead and come to get revenge for everything Hao had ever done to his son. But then he'd realized that was impossible. One Hisao had never known what had happened to the boy, two the dead couldn't come back. It had been bad enough when the boy was thirteen and looked somewhat like his father. Now Koji was almost identical to the bastard.

He had to find a way to get rid of the boy. When Hisao's brat had been on the other side of the universe (AN: hyperbole) they could forget that part of their lives but when he looked at the kid's face he was right back to feeling like a trespasser again. If even after he realized that it was Hisao's son he was looking at he still saw Hisao's disapproving face. Hisao had known about him and Misa's affair. Hell the man had walked in on them once or twice. He hadn't cared. He'd only married Misa to shut his father up so he could continue to mourn his whore/wife in peace. That woman had been the only thing the man had cared about. His grief over her had blinded him to what was happening to his son. But Hisao had had the nerve to look at him like he was dirt because of his and Misa's affair.

"Yo teach? You all right?" one of his students had come looking for him.

"Yes I'll be back in in a minute," he said. When he got home he and Misa were going to have to discuss this again. He couldn't live in peace knowing the boy was back and having to see him everyday.

* * *

'Damnit! Who the hell decided to give him a job working with kids?' Koji thought. He'd left when one of the kids had decided to go looking for Hao. Optimus may want him to face the problems he'd been running from for the last four years but Koji drew the line at sitting in class while the man who had abused him for eight years lectured on politics.

He needed to get away from school to somewhere he could think. First he needed a ride. Axel would still be with the firing squad, Sideburn (1 would be on the firing squad and (2 was starting to mature since he was an older brother now and would tell Optimus that Koji was skipping school. So that left Ultra Magnus. Luckily he was on Koji's cell phone contacts list.

"Hey Magnus," he said when Magnus answered.

"What is it Koji?"

"I need a ride."

"Why aren't you in school?"

Koji wondered if he should tell. Ultra Magnus wouldn't give him a ride if he didn't have a good reason. Plus he wouldn't tell Optimus. Ultra Magnus would go on a rampage, destroy the school (another plus), and maybe kill Hao (Even bigger plus), but he wouldn't tell.

"Hao's teaching my fifth period class."

* * *

"Hao's teaching my fifth period class."

When Magnus heard those words he was no longer driving around downtown Tokyo. He was standing frozen with shock in Koji's back yard four years before watching a dark haired man bring a leather belt down on his friend/nephew's back. He heard Koji's scream again, saw the man slam Koji's already bloody back hard against the wooden pole he was tied to, and saw the man slap the boy hard enough to bruise the entire cheek.

"What!" He didn't yell, he hissed.

"He's here," Koji said.

"I'll be there in five minutes."

* * *

Optimus sighed as he watched Axel leave. They'd had a long discussion about what Koji could and could not do while on earth. It was more than he could do on Cybertron but Koji would still try to get around it or just ignore it. Optimus sighed again. In another year he'd have to find away to make sure Koji was safe without the security detail. With any luck they would be able to catch Scourge before Koji's eighteenth birthday. Koji had already let it be known that he wouldn't be using a security detail after he legally became an adult.

"Optimus? The bill from last night came," T-Ai said.

"Ok. I'll take it now," he said with a sigh. This was not something he was looking forward too.

"Alright."

The bill appeared on his desk and he reluctantly looked at the total. "HOW DID HE SPEND THAT MUCH AT ONE NIGHT CLUB!"

* * *

"You're kidding, Koji spent that much last night?" Sideburn questioned.

"He did. I came in as Optimus was having one of his fits. And that's not even the best part," Prowl said to his laughing brothers.

"What else?" X-brawn asked.

"He didn't just spend that at the night club. He went somewhere else too."

"Where else?" T-Ai asked a little annoyed Koji hadn't just gone to the club like he said he had.

"He went to a tattoo parlor," Optimus said behind them. They all immediately shut up and looked rather scared for their lives.

"And you want to know something else? Koji hasn't been in school since fifth period," Optimus said in a fake cheery voice.

They cringed. They knew Optimus loved Koji like he would a real son but there were limits to how far he could push Optimus and apparently Koji had pushed Optimus too far.

AN: R&R please. school is picking up and i've volunteered to do a lot of stuff for school so updates will take a little longer than usual. Also I will be going camping with my aunt and uncle this weekend and even though I could remain at home with my parents, I have choosen to go due to the fact that my parents intend to make this weekend their fourth or fifth Honeymoon and i really don't like hearing creaking noises through the walls. Before I go I might post another chapter if I get enough reviews (hint hint)


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 6

"Are you alright now?" Ultra Magnus asked. Koji hadn't said a word in the last three hours -- not that Magnus expected him to, seeing Saka again would do that to him. He'd taken the kid to some ruins Onishi used to take Koji to. Koji said it helped him feel close to his dad and if there was ever a time he needed to feel his father's presence it was now.

"Yeah. I'll be fine, but I think I'll be seeing my counselor about a schedule change tomorrow," he joked feebly.

"Do you want me to take you home now?"

"Yeah,"

* * *

They didn't make it to Koji's house. As soon as he turned his cell phone back on Koji found himself talking to a very pissed off Optimus. They were both promptly ordered to return to the base. Well Koji was ordered. Ultra Magnus was strongly advised that if he wanted all his body parts to stay attached, he'd bring Koji back to the base.

"Where the hell did you go!" Optimus yelled. He didn't get an answer. He hadn't expected one either. Koji never gave excuses, he never tried to justify himself when he'd done something really wrong like ditching school or getting drunk (which happened once or twice on Cybertron). It was something Koji had apparently picked up after being stuck with the Sakas for so long (the not making excuses thing, not the drinking). They'd always justified his abuse as punishing him for his father's sins (Whatever they were) or him being lazy or disrespectful or something. And here Optimus was thinking about the Sakas and Koji's past, which always made it so he couldn't stay mad at the boy (Koji's martyr personality made it hard too).

"Ok, what were you doing at a tattoo parlor last night?" He asked instead. He'd work Koji up to telling him what happened to make him skip the last three periods of the day. Koji only took on the martyr act when he was really upset, last time being after the Decepticons had attacked Sideburn right around the corner from the base.

Koji apparently decided showing him would be better than telling since he rolled up his sleeve, revealing his new tattoo.

Seeing it Optimus knew he couldn't be mad at Koji for it. He'd only been doing what Optimus had wanted him to do. Getting closure.

"Who's Eris Onishi?" X-brawn asked looking at the tattoo. It had two names and four dates written inside a broken heart.

"She's my mother," Koji said. He didn't know why but before they had gotten to the club he'd had the sudden desire to get something to remember his parents by. Well he couldn't say that it was sudden. Lately he'd been feeling like he was forgetting them, especially his mom who he could barely remember anyway. Getting their names, birthdays, and death dates tattooed on his arm had seemed like the best way at the time. It might have also had something to do with the three shots of whiskey he'd had before going out. He really didn't get why-- if Optimus didn't want him drinking--did he stock the house with the stuff.

He heard Optimus sigh; something Optimus had done a lot of in the last four years. Koji felt some guilt knowing that he was usually the reason.

"Why did you leave school?" Optimus asked softly.

Koji looked at Optimus' face and saw genuine concern. He knew Optimus was sincere, he always was, but he didn't usually show it so openly. Koji wanted to him the real reason he'd left but he couldn't. When Optimus felt guilty he didn't get over it. He would blame himself for putting Koji back in danger from Saka. Koji wouldn't do that to Optimus, not again.

* * *

"What do you mean 'he's back'?" Misa Saka asked incredulously, not believing her ears.

"I mean Hisao's son is back on earth, back in town, and I teach his fifth period class," Hao said.

"But- why? I thought Prime would keep him on that planet until he was at least eighteen," she said. She was worried. The Autobots had left them pretty much alone since they really didn't pose a threat to Koji while he was away but if he was back... Her train of thought was cut short by a cry from the next room.

"Mama!" her son's voice called from his playpen. She went and picked him up. He was crying, most likely picking up on his parent's distress. He was smart for a little one and her first child. She couldn't risk getting pregnant while married to Hisao since the child would legally be his. Hisao put up with her affair but she doubted he like her having Hao's child while married to him. He would have known for sure it wasn't his; he had never touched her, not even on their wedding night.

"So what should we do about it?" Hao asked.

"I have family in Kyoto. We can move there," she suggested.

"I meant what are we going to do about the kid. I'm not running from a child," Hao said.

"What would you have us do? Kill him!" she said exasperated. At the look on her husbands face She nearly gasped. "You want to kill him." It was a statement not a question.

"He's nearly an adult. If he decides to press charges now they'll listen to him. There is no statute of limitations on child abuse. They'll throw us in jail. They'll take Yama away! Do you want that!" he yelled.

"And if we kill him we won't live long enough to be sent to jail. The only reason Prime didn't kill us last time was because he was too worried about the boy to give us a second thought" she said.

"Not if we make it look like some one else did it. Prime has so many enemies how would they know it was us?"

"Maybe because it happened on Earth rather than on Cybertron," Misa said rocking her son.

"He was guarded better on Cybertron. He was within yelling distance of forty Autobots at all times. Here he only has one small one. He'd be an easy target for anybody," Hao said almost excitedly.

Misa shook her head. "I can't. I won't risk Yama growing up with out his parents."

* * *

Koji walked up the stairs toward his room. He was grounded until Saturday. Optimus wanted him out socializing with humans so he was going to let him go skating with Karl.

When he reached the door to his room he paused for a second then continued on to the attic. He'd use to hide there when he was little. It was his refuge.

Looking around he wondered if anybody had been in here since he was four. That was the last time he come-up. He'd stopped once the Sakas came into his life. He'd been afraid they would ruin it.

He found his old makeshift bed. It seemed smaller but it didn't look like any body had touched it since he'd been gone. He lay down on it and rested his head on the pillow. It was still as soft as a cloud. He was asleep in minutes.

_He felt a strong pair of arms wrap around him and pull him back against a soft body. A voice began humming a soft lullaby and the arms began rocking him like a small child. He hadn't felt these arms in years. They'd held him whenever he'd been hurt, upset, or sick. Comforting him whenever he needed it._

_The humming stopped and he felt himself being put back on his bed. Then the presence left, leaving a feeling of benevolence behind it. _

_AN: _this is the last update until i get back from camping. see ya


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

AN: As far as Koji's girlfriend goes if you've read any of my other stories you ought to have seen this coming. I hate Real Character/OC romances (except for Koji's parents in my stories).

BTW I will not be camping any time in the foreseeable future. And it only took me two nights sleeping on the hard, cold ground to figure it out. Plus the extremely poisonous spiders that like to crawl into the cup I was trying to drink out of helped to. Did any of you know that the Granddaddy Long Leg is the most poisonous spider in the world and if you eat it you die. Makes you think twice about sleeping with your mouth open or not checking your cup before you take a sip. Plus that water in the showers smelled like rotten eggs.

Chapter 7

Koji looked at the door in front of him and his schedule then back again. Seventh period, Child Development/ Aide Daycare. Yup he was in the right place, though he wondered who at the base wanted him to learn how to take care of babies. 'God I hope T-Ai's not trying to give me a hint' he thought. They'd been dating since she got a human body that she could download her self into when she didn't need to be one with the mainframe but he wasn't sure she was his "One" yet. He had only started seeing her in romantical terms two years ago. Then again it hadn't taken his parents that long. His father and mother had met at a bar near where his father's latest dig had been. After his mother had drunk his father under the table and they got thrown in jail, in the same cell, for drunkenness in public the two fell head over heels for each other. His father had claimed that he'd fallen for the young Colonel right after the hangover wore off and the conversation they'd had while waiting for either his colleagues to come post bail or for her troops to launch an assult on the prison guards had only further convinced the man.

RING

'Damnit' he thought. While he'd been lost in the past he had missed the warning bell and was now late.

"So you're my new aide. Koji, right?" the daycare lady asked. She didn't even wait for a response. "I'm Mrs. Farr. Your job is to take care of the toddlers. It's easy you just have to keep them from running off, eating small objects, or having organized warfare with the infants. Can you handle that?"

"Um, I don't have to change diapers do I?" Koji asked.

"No. Not until later when I teach you how to do it properly." She point at five children. "Their names are Alice, Cameo, Sakura, Mato, and Yama. They're the children of some of our younger teachers".

"Ok. How bad is their organized warfare?" Koji wondered aloud.

"You'll see," she said before walking away.

Koji looked down at the five sets of expectant eyes staring at him. "If you're good for me I'll teach you how to wage war on the football players and cheerleaders." They didn't make a peep all period.

* * *

After a particularly rough Trigonometry class Koji realized he'd left his book bag in the daycare. So after calling Axel to let him know he'd be a little late meeting him and assure him that he wasn't going to pull a vanishing act, Koji headed for the daycare.

"See ya tomorrow, Hao," he heard Mrs. Farr say. Then he saw Saka walk out of the daycare carrying Yama.

They both stood frozen staring at each other for a few minutes before Mrs. Farr stepped out. "Oh Koji, you forgot your bag," she said walking back into the room to retrieve it. She didn't seem to notice the tension between the men. Yama did though.

"Daddy no like Koko?" he asked using the nickname the children had given Koji since they couldn't pronounce his real name properly. His son's voice startled Saka out of his staring match.

"You have a son?" Koji asked not as surprised as he should have been. He'd realized it subconsciously when he'd first seen Yama. Yama had Hao's eyes and Misa's face.

"Yes," Hao said.

"Koji, here's your bag," Mrs. Farr said coming back out.

"Thanks," Koji said, still not taking his eyes off Saka. He took the bag and walked past Saka heading toward student pick up, even though his every instinct told him to stay and not take his eyes off his enemy.

"Bye Koko," Yama said waving. Koji stopped and look back at the kid. His stepbrother. The realization almost knocked thewind out of him. But it was true. As far as the legal records showed he was still considered Misa's stepson, therefore Yama's stepbrother.

* * *

"Koji are you alright?" Axel asked.

"Yeah. Just take to the base ok?" Koji said tiredly.

"Alright."

* * *

T-Ai was worried. She also felt a little guilty. She hadn't checked the names of the teachers or run a background check on them. With all the problems on Cybertron with the Decepticons trying to increase their numbers and attacking research centers she'd forgotten. Worry over Scourge had caused Optimus to forget as well. He'd been more upset that he'd been proven right about Scourge. The only reason Scourge would be raiding research facilities would be that he was looking for Koji.

Now she'd gotten a chance to look over Koji's teachers she found something that distressed her greatly and would more than likely piss Optimus off royally.

Fifth Period; Global Politics; Saka, Hao

"Optimus? I need you to come here," she said.

R&R. After the past two nights I need it. Sweating and freezing at the same time is not a pleasant experience.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 8

The research lab looked more like a war zone than a place of scientific study. The machinery was completely destroyed, papers were scattered all over, fires were burning in various places, and the bodies of the scientists, human and Autobot a like, were all over the floor.

Scourge surveyed the scene with a critical eye. Another useless attack. He hadn't found the boy or any information about where Prime had taken him. As a precaution he was having his men look over the bodies to make sure the boy wasn't among them. He doubted he'd be that lucky. Onishi's brat had more lives than Prime had "peace and love" speeches.

"Sir, there's no sign of the boy," Armorhide said. He and Rollbar were the only survivors, other than Scourge, of Omega Prime's rampage four years earlier.

"Figures. Him dying in one of these attacks would be too easy," Rollbar spoke up.

"Any casualties on our side?" Scourge asked. New Deceptacons were hard to come by since they were mostly Predicon deserters.

"No. These Autobots were scientists, not warriors."

"Good. Any survivors we could question?" Scourge asked, hoping this mission hadn't been a complete waste of time.

"No-" Rollbar was cut off by a strange beeping. It took them a minute to realize it came from Scourge's communicator, the one that was linked to the one he'd given Hao Saka.

* * *

Optimus was staring, as he had been for the last five minutes, at the list of Koji's teachers. He was still trying to connect what he was seeing with reality. He saw the name but didn't believe it. They couldn't have been so stupid as to send Koji to the same school his abuser now taught at, could they?

But it made sense. Koji had skipped fifth period twice now and that was the class Saka taught according to the schedule. Koji may blow off a lot of things off but school wasn't one of them.

Optimus looked down at T-Ai who was still looking a little sheepish. "You're banned from using your physical form for a week." She didn't argue even though there was something she needed to tell Koji that she'd wanted to tell him in human form. It would have to wait.

* * *

"Koji, Optimus wants to see both of us now," Ultra Magnus said. Koji had been reading the book his English teacher had assigned, looked up.

"What about?"

"T-Ai hinted that it has something to do with you skipping school and me aiding and abetting."

Koji sighed. This would be far from pleasant. Hopefully Optimus wouldn't accidentally blow something up again. That problem had gotten really bad on Cybertron. Now they were placing bets on what would blow next, Koji's money was on the plaque Magnus had given Optimus for his birthday that said 'I Have Crossed Over to the Dark-side, Don't Worry I brought a Flashlight'.

BOOM

"Hey I gave you that!" Ultra Magnus could be heard yelling from Optimus' office.

Koji looked back at Sideburn. "You owe me fifty bucks". Sideburn just glared back at him.

* * *

In the Office of Doom…

"Do you two know why I asked you to come see me?" Optimus asked.

"Umm… because I skipped school?" Koji asked.

"It has something to do with that," Optimus said.

"Because I helped him?" Ultra Magnus questioned.

"Close but still not it"

"Then what?"

"It has something to do with why Koji skipped school."

They both froze. He knew. He knew about Saka. He knew they'd purposely hadn't told him. He was most defiantly pissed.

"Uhh… we can explain," Koji said.

"Yes by all means explain why you didn't tell WHY, WHEN YOU FOUND OUT THAT SAKA WAS TEACHING CHILDREN, YOU FAILED TO FIND IT NECESSARY TO TELL ME ABOUT IT!" Optimus finished at a yell.

"Because we knew you'd freak," Ultra Magnus said sarcastically. Optimus' glare silenced any more remarks from his brother. Then he focused on Koji.

"Saka should not be working with children, not with his track record," Optimus said. "He could do the same thing to those kids as he did to you."

Koji shook his head. "He won't."

"How can you be sure?"

"Standard abuser mindset. Only abuse someone you can control. He hurts one of those kids and they go home and tell their parents he loses everything. I was his stepson, who was I going to tell? Dad? He was too caught up in grieving Mom to notice" Koji said.

"And if he goes after you again?"

"Yeah and piss off several three-ton plus robots? He may be nuts but he isn't stupid," Koji said.

"Still you should have told me," Optimus said.

"You feel guilty if I get a paper cut. Why would I tell you this when you'd just sit around and feel guilty for days after you solved the problem that wasn't even your fault to begin with?"

"Koji you are my responsibility-"

"You felt guilty about what Saka did to me even though the majority of it, the worst of it, happened before you even came to earth."

"We saw what happened that day-"

"Optimus that was nothing compared to some of the things that Saka did!"

"Koji-"

"I'm serious! Did I tell you about the time he made me put my hands on a hot griddle and keep them there for five minute! Or the he came after me with a lead pipe? That little beating was just the beginning of what he probably had planned," Koji stopped to catch his breath. Ultra Magnus took advantage of the pause to step in.

"Let's finish this later." Optimus nodded. Koji's outbursts were rare and he only had them when under a lot of stress. It was usually best to leave him alone when he was like this so he could calm down. The last time he'd had an outburst they'd had to sedate him to keep him calm. Hopefully he'd calm himself this time.

"We'll talk more tomorrow," Optimus said.

AN:Review please


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: I hate headaches and school.

Chapter 9

Scourge was very happy. His men hadn't seen they're this happy since…never. Well, with the exception Armorhide and Rollbar, who had seen Scourge four years ago when they'd finally gotten a hold of Onishi's brat. Then of course Omega Prime had shown up, destroyed most of the Decepticons, and rescued the boy. So Scourge hadn't stayed happy for long. But now they knew where the Onishi kid was. Prime had taken him back to earth, where he would be an easy target.

They would hopefully swoop in grab the kid and be gone again before Prime knew what hit him. They'd hide the boy and blackmail Prime and get whatever they could for him. Then Scourge would make the kid's death slow and painful. Finally they were going to send what was left of him back to Prime.

Scourge was definitely very happy. He was going to get his revenge on the Onishi boy and Omega Prime all at once.

* * *

Hao looked over the faces of the students in his fifth period. Koji hadn't attended once since he'd arrived, which was all right with him. He didn't have to see the boy and if the boy got caught he'd be expelled.

He knew the boy wouldn't be attending school much longer either. The Decepticons were coming soon and there was no doubt in his mind about what they intended for the boy. It would painful and final. Best of all he couldn't be linked to it. Koji would die and it wouldn't endanger him, Misa, or Yama. When the Autobots went looking for vengeance they'd go after Scourge and never even think about him. Hell they probably already forgot completely about the man who had made Koji's life a living hell for so many years.

* * *

Optimus looked over the crowd exiting the school. He knew he shouldn't be here and that if Koji found out… well he'd rather deal with every Predicon in existence than Koji if the boy found out what he was doing. Hopefully football practice, which Axel had been ordered to make sure Koji attended, would keep him to preoccupied to notice that a fire truck was sitting in the teacher's parking lot.

All the same Optimus hoped it wouldn't take to long to accomplish what he was there to do. He really hoped Saka wouldn't dally to long before getting into his car to go home.

He breathed a sigh of relief when Saka left the building shortly after the rest of the people did. Saka seemed preoccupied while walking toward his car. He didn't notice Optimus anyway, at least not until it was too late anyway.

"Transform!" Saka nearly had a heart attack when the fire truck he hadn't noticed turned into a very familiar, very big, and very scary robot. Luckily the daycare aide had taken the kids down to the football field and hadn't brought them back yet, that being the cause of his preoccupation, because he would have dropped Yama if he'd been holding him.

"YOU!" he remembered the Bot from four years before. It was impossible to forget what he looked like; literally, the guy was on the news every other night.

"Yes. The last time I checked I was me," Optimus said thinking he'd been spending too much time around Koji if he was using sarcasm.

"What do you want?" Saka sneered.

"To make sure you remember why you're not going to fall back into old habits," Optimus said.

"What old habits?" Saka asked even though he knew exactly what Optimus meant.

"Well last time it involved my son, a whip, a whipping post, and you yelling various obscenities," Optimus said.

"So." Saka knew as soon as he said it that that was the wrong thing to say. Optimus' optics got harder and his stance became rigid.

"So if there is a repeat of that incident, in any way, shape, or form, you will learn what it feels like to have you're molecules torn apart very slowly," Optimus said in a low, dangerous voice.

Saka only let the fear he was feeling show for a second but it was enough for Optimus to know his message was received the way he wanted it to be.

Optimus was about to transform and leave when a small streak rushed by his foot and latched onto Saka's leg.

"Daddy! Koko take us to throw water boons at jocks!" the little boy said proudly.

"Koko?" Optimus said getting a bad feeling that that name sounded familiar.

"Yeah. The kids can't say my name right remember," Koji said from behind him.

* * *

"Uhhg," Axel said watching the humans tackling each other.

"Humans consider playing this fun?" Ultra Magnus asked.

"Yeah. I think it has something to do with it allowing them to relieve the stress and anger that build up over time," Axel said.

"You're suppose to pick Koji up from school and protect him, not do his psychology homework for him," Ultra Magnus said.

"But it's so interesting. The human mind has so many dimensions, it just amazing," Axel said thinking of everything he'd read in Koji's psychology book.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?" they heard someone who sounded a lot like Koji yell from the parking lot. They were both on their feet and running without a second thought since the school was listed as a danger zone for Koji.

* * *

"Shut up," Optimus said to his snickering brother.

"Come on even you have to admit that that was hilarious," Ultra Magnus said breaking down into a fullblown laughing fit.

"No, I don't," Optimus said seriously.

"Well you do know you had it coming right?"

Optimus just glared at him and walked off in the direction of his office.

"What happened?" Sideburn asked after witnessing the exchange.

"Koji caught Optimus in the act of threatening Hao Saka with certain death if he even thought about hurting Koji again," Ultra Magnus said.

"Oh," Sideburn turned to go then stopped. "HAO SAKA'S HERE?"

AN: R&R


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: Sorry for the delay but I've been really busy. Good news though, I finally have my learner's permit! this chapter maybe a little boring but things are going to pickup soon

Chapter 10

"They're out there again, aren't they?"

Axel looked to his friend then back out the window. "Well there's a blue sports car parked next the Ishiza's red Camero, the Miyamoto's seem to have acquired an SUV, and there's been a cop at the Yagami's for the past hour."

Koji dropped his head into his hands and groaned. His 'brothers' hadn't been more than three hundred yards from him since they found out Hao was working at the high school. So much for normalcy. Everything had been totally off since he'd gotten back. Ultra Magnus was actually following orders, Optimus was threatening humans with a slow and painful death, Axel refused to do anything illegal, and the three biggest supporters of giving him his space were never out yelling distance.

"I need to get out of here. At least for a few hours anyway," Koji said.

"Koji it's my job to protect you now. If Optimus-"

"Optimus didn't order them to do this. They're acting on their own. Besides I already have permission from Optimus to go out today," Koji looked so desperate to get away that Axel had to give in.

"How do we get out with out them seeing us?"

"The same way every other kid does when they're sneaking out. Go out the back" Koji smiled. For some reason nobody ever tried to monitor his back door for some reason. It was probably because the walls were fifteen feet high and almost impossible to get over. Key word being almost.

When he'd been younger Saka had tried to corner him in the backyard a few times and like they said necessity was the mother of invention or something similar to that anyway. To escape a particularly bad beating he'd ended up finding several conveniently placed niches in the corner of the wall allowed him to, if running, jump up the wall.

Ok start running, jump up, up, grab top, pull up, roll over, pray the Miyamotos haven't moved their dumpster, and land perfectly on top of the closed dumpster. Thank god they never leftthe lidopen.

"Show off," Axel said climbing quite ungracefully over the top.

"You're just jealous you can't move like that," Koji laughed feeling better being out of his house.

* * *

"Optimus?" a sickly sweet voice said behind the Autobot's fearless leader.

"I didn't do!" Optimus said recognizing Elita's tone.

"Didn't do what?" she asked innocently. She'd heard about Optimus' trip to Koji's high school and she wasn't impressed. They'd both agreed, as Koji's 'parents', to give him his space and let deal with his problems on his own. Optimus had not only gone against their agreement, he'd done it with out consulting her.

"Uhhh…"

"You mean you didn't go behind my back and do something stupid like try to fight Koji's battles for him again," she'd perfected the fake sweet voice to the point Optimus couldn't help but shudder.

"I know you thoroughly understand why Koji should fight his own battles and that you can control your protective urges. I know you would never threaten a human even if he was the asshole who use to knock Koji around for fun because that would be an invasion of Koji's privacy and you wouldn't do that," Elita sounded angry now. Optimus sighed. This wouldn't end well.

"Enjoy sleeping in your office to night," she said with a fake smile before turning and walking out.

* * *

"T-Ai?" T-Ai turned to see Elita standing behind her. "Shouldn't you be in your physical form?" Elita asked.

T-Ai shook her head. "Optimus ban me from using it for a week," she said softly.

"Optimus also doesn't know the health risks that being out of your body at a time like this could cause," Elita said. T-Ai's eyes widened. "For both of your health stay in your body," Elita said.

* * *

"Is it just me or does it seem a little too quiet?" Sideburn asked.

"We can't hear anything from the house from this distance," Prowl said.

"I meant that I haven't seen Axel come to the window for at least an hour," Sideburn said.

"He's right. Didn't Koji say he was going somewhere today?" X-brawn asked.

"Yeah, the skate park."

"So? He has to leave the house to go anywhere and we've been watching the front door the entire time," Prowl said.

"What about the back door?" Sideburn asked.

"Have you seen those walls? They're three times Koji's height. There's no way he could get over them" Prowl said.

"Well could you at least check Axel's signal to make sure he's in the house?" Sideburn asked.

"Fine," Prowl said immediately running a search for the younger Bot's signal.

"Well?" Sideburn ask after a minute.

"They're at the skate park," Prowl grudgingly admitted.

AN: again sorry for the delay. Writers block sucks.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I own nothing… Damnit

AN: Spirit week Wahoo (sarcasm) I hate pep rallies

Chapter 11

CLANK!

"That had to hurt," Karl said as he and Koji stood together watching Axel trying to skateboard. Emphasis on 'trying'.

"Are you ok, Axel?"" Koji asked his friend, who was trying to sit up after his board had decided it wanted to go left while it's rider went right.

"Yeah, the four inch thick armor really helps at times like these," Axel said getting up slowly. "You never told me that skateboarding was gonna be this hard."

"If it were easy what fun would it be?" Koji laughed.

"It would be less painful," Axel muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing," Axel said quickly. The sound approaching engines stopped Koji from questioning further. "Awww crap," Axel said, cringing at the thought of the up coming throw down.

* * *

"Sir we'll be in the human's solar system in four hours," Starter, one of the new Deceptacons, reported to Scourge.

"Good," Scourge said smiling under his faceplate. "Almost time."

* * *

"Are they always like this?" Karl asked.

"Yelling at each other in public? Yeah. Back on Cybertron this kind of stuff happened so often people just stared to ignore it. Once they went at each other in the middle of Optimus' office and Optimus just ignored them completely," Axel said.

"How is that so amazing?"

"Optimus' old office was roughly the size of a postage stamp. The four of them were practically standing on his desk yelling at their maximum volume," Karl and Axel both shuddered at the thought.

"I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF YOU KNOW," Koji yelled.

"DAMNIT WE TRUST YOU! IT'S THAT BASTARD WE DON'T TRUST!" Sideburn yelled back at the boy.

"We'll discuss this later in private," Prowl said stepping in. He'd noticed the people staring and really didn't want this to make its way onto the news like a lot of things Koji did seemed to. Humans thrived on gossip and Koji had been one of their favorite subjects since he'd left for Cybertron.

"Fine, now leave," Koji hissed, dropping his voice down to a reasonable level.

"I meant you're coming with us to the base to discuss this," Prowl said.

"No."

"That wasn't a request Koji."

"I don't care. I was given permission to be here."

"You didn't have permission to sneak out with out telling us," Sideburn said, getting angry again.

"The last time I checked as long as I have my security detail and Optimus' permission I can go where ever I want," Koji said getting angry too.

"You know how dangerous--"

"I don't have to check with you all when ever I decide to leave the house!"

"Koji, we do this for your protection. If you keep fighting us you're going to end up like your father!" Even before he finished Sideburn knew he'd said the wrong thing. The deathly silence that followed confirmed his suspicions.

"Axel take me home," Koji said refusing to look at Sideburn.

"Koji-" Sideburn didn't know what to say.

Koji didn't answer. He couldn't.

* * *

"Sideburn don't worry, he'll come around," X-brawn tried to reassure his baby brother. He hated seeing him like this, especially when it had something to do with something he and Koji had said to each other.

"No he won't," Sideburn said miserably.

"You said that when he was kidnapped by Scourge and it turned out he never blamed you--- not that it was ever your fault," X-brawn added hastily.

"X-brawn."

"What?"

"Just shut up."

* * *

"Koji? Are you alright in there?" Axel asked through the door. Koji had headed straight for the attic when they'd gotten home and hadn't come down for dinner.

From the silence he guessed that Koji wasn't going to answer. It was probably best to give him the space he kept asking for.

* * *

Koji listened to his friend's heavy footsteps as he walked away. He felt a small stab of guilt about worrying Axel but he needed to be alone right now.

What Sideburn had said earlier had hit a nerve. Was he trying to end up like his father? Like her? They'd both lived short lives and had left him alone. His Mom had been fulfilling her duty when she'd gone off to fight in the war. She hadn't wanted to go. He remembered her hugging him good-bye with tears in her eyes. She'd known that she wasn't going to coming back, he had too. His Dad hadn't. That's why it hit him so hard that he'd grieved for what little remained of his life. He'd left Koji willingly. He'd started pulling away, going on digs for weeks on end to distance himself so he wouldn't be hurt like that again. His father had realized his mistake four months before his kidnapping and had tried to make it right but in the end it only caused Koji to get close to him and lose him. Giving his son the fate he'd been afraid of. Being the survivor, dealing with being left alone.

Not totally alone. Optimus and the others had stepped in to take care of him, but they hadn't always been there. They couldn't tell him stories about his parents or ancestors. They couldn't tell him embarrassing stories about what he did as a baby.

Thinking about it now he knew Sideburn was wrong. He wasn't going to end up like his father. His father had left someone behind to remember him. He didn't even have that.

R&R writers block is really getting to me. I need to start the action scenes soon or I'm going to get lost in Koji's depression. if you hadn't noticed the last three paragraphs sucked. i re-wrote them God knows how many times


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: what do you think?

AN: I hate spirit week. Red, White, a Blue Day is over. Now there's only Crazy Hat Day, Twin Day, Mismatch Day, and Braves Day left. Of course I have to participate in all of them since there's a challenge that's been issued in ROTC amongst the flights.

Chapter 12

Light coming through the attic widow woke Koji. He'd fallen asleep while contemplating the pointlessness of his life.

'Damn I get depressed after fighting with Sideburn,' he thought.

After thinking about it all night he knew he had to talk to Sideburn as soon as possible. The guy could guilt as bad as Optimus if he was left alone to long. And nobody wanted another Bot on a guilt trip,one was bad enough.

After a quick shower and an even quicker breakfast Koji was out the door. He'd thought about waking Axel but after what happened yesterday decided he decided to let him recharge. Dealing with him after one of his arguments with the Autobot brothers wasn't an easy thing to do. Besides it was only four blocks to the base. What could possibly happen?

* * *

"Why can't T-Ai do this?" X-brawn asked. He really hated monitoring the surveillance system.

"Elita says there's some health risk to T-Ai if she doesn't stay in her physical form," Prowl, who was stuck working with his brother, said.

"This is the kind of thing I'm suppose to be able to push off on my younger brothers," X-brawn moaned.

"Well we can hardly put this all on Sideburn when he's emotionally distraught," Prowl said. "X-brawn?" X-brawn wasn't standing beside him anymore.

"I said _brothers. _You know, plural," X-brawn said from the door. With a final wave he was gone.

"X-" Prowl wasn't able to finish his sentence due to the Deceptacon alarm going off.

* * *

BOOM!

"Augh," Koji had managed to dodge most of the debris from the explosion, but a small piece of cement had lodged itself in his upper back.

"Watch it Starter! Scourge wants the kid alive," Armorhide yelled.

'Oh great, they want me alive. This isn't going to be pleasant'. Koji wondered when he'd started to become so sarcastic that he did it all the time, even when he was in mortal danger.

"Aww crap," Koji hissed as he came face to face with Rollbar.

"I don't suppose this is yet another plot to kill Optimus and take over Cybertron by chance?"

"Nope. Just revenge," Rollbar said

"I had a feeling it wasn't that easy," Koji sighed before being grabbed off the ground.

If this had been one of their usual plans he'd have a chance of being rescued. If it was just revenge he'd probably be dead before his friends even started looking for him. His only chance now was for one of the Autobots to show up out of nowhere and save before the Deceptacons got him off the planet. 'God I hate playing the damsel in distress,' he thought.

"PUT HIM DOWN!" Axel yelled.

'Not exactly who I was hoping for, but beggars can't be choosy,' Koji thought.

"What are you going to do?" Starter laughed. Apparently he hadn't heard the expression about big things and small packages.

BOOM!

"AHHHH!" Starter screamed as his leg was blown away. As usual the person who made fun of Axel's size was met with the wrong end of his photon cannon, which was designed to tear through the toughest alloys like they were paper.

"Retreat!" Armorhide yelled deciding that he wanted to keep all his appendages intact.

CLANG

"Ugh," Armorhide fell to the ground after Ultra Magnus slammed his fist into the back of the Deceptacon's head.

"You might want to put the kid down," Magnus said with his most intimidating glare.

Rollbar just started to laugh manically, startling the Autobot. He'd expected fear, terror, or even indifference to his threat, but not amusement. When Rollbar opened his free hand they saw why he was so amused. He had a warp remote.

"Say bye bye Autobot," Rollbar said laughing, before warping out with Koji.

* * *

"The trip wasn't a total loss sir, we got the kid," Rollbar said feebly. Scourge wasn't the least bit happy that he lost two men on what was suppose to be a simple kidnapping.

"I know we have the kid. That's the only reason you haven't been sent to the incinerator!" Scourge said. Not only had he lost two men, but now he Autobots had two hostages who could tell them some of his future plans. Armorhide was one of his inner circle. Every future attack and battle plan, Armorhide knew about them all. Some of the plans had taken years to come up with and perfect. Now they were useless.

Scourge smirked. There was a way for him to vent his anger though. "I'm going to see the prisoner."

AN: Sorry about the shortness but like i said it's spirit week. that's enough to depress anybody


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: Spirit Week is over! Now it's time to get ready for Halloween!

Chapter 13

"So Koji's been kidnapped," Optimus said in a deathly calm voice.

Axel and Ultra Magnus looked at each other nervously. As scary as Optimus was when he was yelling, he was even scarier when was speaking calmly when he should be yelling.

"Ummm… yes," Axel said, certain he was about to be fired. Koji had gotten away from him. If nothing had happened to Koji, Optimus might have given him a second chance but since Koji had wandered straight into the Deceptacons Axel would be lucky to be an energon miner after this. 'Why do I have the crappy luck?' he thought to himself.

"How?" Optimus asked, apparently.

"Uhh, Optimus I think that's kind of obvious," Ultra Magnus said.

"How did the Deceptacons even know he was here?" Optimus asked.

"Well it's not exactly classified. Anybody could see him walking down the street, hanging out at a club, going to schoo-" Axel stopped looked at Optimus and Ultra Magnus. From the look on their faces, or in Optimus' case what he could see of their faces, Axel could tell they'd figured it out too.

"He can't say I didn't warn him," Optimus said getting up and walking to the door.

* * *

"Hello human," Scourge said smirking. He was going enjoy taking his frustrations out on the brat. The kid's screams had always been music to his audio receptors.

The human was just sitting in a way reminiscent of the last time he'd been kidnapped by the Deceptacons. Scourge was vaguely reminded of the transmitter that the boy had had concealed which had ultimately brought Omega Prime straight to them. Not this time though. They'd check for any signals that could let Prime know where the boy was. In the years of peace Prime had gotten lax on the boy's security.

"Are you going to answer me boy?" Scourge didn't like that the boy could still just blow off his authority. The brat should be too afraid of him to even think of disobeying him.

"Boy, I'm losing my patience," Scourge said with a harsh undertone.

BOOM!

Scourge was thrown back by a small blast from the mini photon blaster Koji was made to carry by Optimus.

The Deceptacon leader just sat there and stared at the boy in shock. The he looked at the hole in his good arm (good arm meaning the one that Omega Prime didn't tear off. Then he looked back at Koji. Then launched himself at the boy.

* * *

"Optimus," Sideburn said catching Optimus before he managed to get out the back exit of the base. Optimus had been hoping to avoid the questions his men would have. Rumors spread fast in the base, especially since they'd had their first Deceptacon alarm in four years.

"Where's Koji?" Sideburn asked. If the Deceptacons had been on Earth there was no doubt who they were after and Sideburn had probably heard that Axel had come into the base without Koji.

"Optimus," Sideburn sounded desperate now. Optimus felt sorry for the young Bot. Koji and he had argued the day before. Now Sideburn had to be feeling guilty.

"I'll talk to you and your brothers when I get back," Optimus said before hurrying out.

* * *

SLAM!

Scourge slid the door shut behind him as he fled from the boy's assault. He was going to have Rollbar's tailpipe for this. He was supposed to check the boy for this kind of stuff.

Who the hell gives a teenager that kind of firepower anyway? 'Prime does apparently,' he thought bitterly.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Prowl asked.

"Yeah. After the alarm Axel showed up with Ultra Magnus and two prisoners with Deceptacon insignias," X-brawn said. "Sideburn, what did you find out?" he asked his youngest brother who'd just walked into their room.

"Nothing," Sideburn said glumly.

"What?"

"Optimus wouldn't tell me anything. He was in a hurry to go somewhere."

"Damnit, we get our first Deceptacon attack in four years and nobody will tell us where Koji is," X-brawn said, frustration clear in his voice.

"It's not that hard to figure out," Prowl put in. "There's only two possibilities. Optimus put him in hiding or--"

"No," Sideburn interrupted. "Both Axel and Ultra Magnus were at the fight. Neither of them would let a Deceptacon take Koji," Sideburn said trying to convince himself as well as his brothers.

"I really hope you're right," Prowl said.

AN: For those worried about Koji, don't worry. He has a whole bunch of stuff like that blaster stored away somewhere.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I own nothing having to do with transformers or "The Pit and the Pendulum"

AN: I'm in a sarcastic bitcy mood so this chapter isn't going to be as serious as it probably should be but hey! (Fake cheeriness) It 's my story! (Fake cheeriness gone) where'd that come from?

Chapter 14

Saka had applied for a transfer to Kyoto the day after Koji had started school. The transfer had come through Friday. Saka was gone by Saturday. Optimus found all this out on Sunday. Optimus was not very happy about this.

"Damnit!" the Autobot leader cursed slamming his fist on his desktop.

"Optimus, that's the third time you've said that in the last five minutes. When this is over remind me to teach you some new swear words," Ultra Magnus complained. Why Optimus thought he wasn't allowed cuss was beyond his younger brother. If it was to set a good example for Koji then he was wasting his time controlling his tongue. Koji could swear more fluently than most of the hardened warriors. Ultra Magnus had found that out when Koji was thirteen.

"Magnus-" Optimus tried to break in.

"Don't even start. I know this isn't the best time to be making jokes but being to serious isn't good for you no matter what the circumstances are."

"Magnus-"

"I'll help with anything I can but you need to lighten up."

"MAGNUS!"

"What?" the confused rogue asked.

"I was going to ask who would be the best choice to tell T-Ai that Koji's been kidnapped, but since you volunteered, good luck," Optimus said, getting up to leave his office.

"What! Why can't you tell her?" Magnus asked.

"I have to tell X-brawn, Prowl, and Sideburn," Optimus said leaving his brother to figure out how to tell T-Ai that her boyfriend was missing.

* * *

'This is really getting old' Koji thought to himself. He'd been strapped down to a table watching this razor swing back and forth as it was steadily lowered toward him. It would probably slice him slowly in half in another hour or so.

Poor Scourge thought he was being so original with this torture. Koji didn't have the heart to tell the guy that a human author had already come up with this a century ago and that it had probably also been used during the Spanish Inquisition. 'Next he'll be sealing me inside a wall in a crypt or burying me alive,' the boy thought bitterly.

* * *

"Why isn't he breaking?" Scourge hissed. They'd been watching the boy since they'd started the swinging razor thing. So far they only emotion the boy had shown was exasperation. "He's supposed to be terrified!"

"I'm sure he's just in shock. He'll start being terrified any second now," Bouncer, yet another new recruit/Autobot deserter, tried to assure his commander. Inwardly he wondered why he'd left the Autobots to serve Scourge. Prime could be an overbearing, pompous asshole, but at least he wasn't insane, which the Deceptacon was beginning to suspect Scourge was.

"Yes. But let's move on to the next stage anyway," Scourge said looking too happy about the next torture.

* * *

"Umm T-Ai?" Magnus said trying to get the girl's attention. He felt weird standing in the middle the cafeteria that had been installed for the humans that worked at the base.

"Huh?" T-Ai asked between bites of her lunch. Ultra Magnus tried not to laugh at the sight of the slim girl surrounded by a mountain of food.

"I think you should come with me. We need to talk." 'Way to not freak her out smart guy,' Ultra Magnus mentally berated himself.

"Ok- uohh," She said covering her mouth running for the trashcan. Once there she promptly threw-up the food she'd just eaten.

'Great. I get to tell a sick woman that her boyfriend's been kidnapped. Why do I get stuck with all the crummy jobs?' Ultra Magnus thought.

* * *

"You said you'd talk to us when you got back," Sideburn said sitting on his recharge table.

Optimus had found the three Autobot brothers in their barrack. And they weren't happy about being left out of the loop about what had gone on that morning. 'Better just get this over with,' he thought.

"Scourge has Koji," he said without preamble.

The brothers weren't surprised. They'd known after Optimus had refused to tell them what was going on before he took off for Saka's place.

"How are we going to get him back?" Sideburn asked.

"That's the problem. We think Scourge is just out for revenge this time. Koji is no longer a valuable source of information. His only use to the Decepticons is blackmail. The likely hood of rescuing him is very low."

"So you're saying we're most likely never going to see Koji again?" Sideburn asked.

"It's a distinct possibility."

Sideburn buried his face in his hands while his brothers tried to comfort him.

"But we're not giving up hope until we know for sure what's going on. We still have to question the prisoners," Optimus said.

"We want to help with that," X-brawn said.

"No. The three of you are to emotionally involved in this," Optimus told them.

"Optimus can we talk outside," X-brawn asked leaving Prowl to take care of Sideburn.

"Of course," Optimus said following him out.

"Why do you want to keep us out of this? Really?" X-brawn asked once the door shut blocking his brothers from hearing.

"I-"

"Don't even try that bullshit you were using in there. You, Ultra Magnus, and Axel are involved in this emotionally too and I know you three aren't going to be sitting this one out," X-brawn said.

"None of us fought with Koji yesterday. Sideburn's feeling guilty and not thinking straight," Optimus told him. "We can't afford to let things get away from us. Not if we ever want to see Koji alive again."

"This isn't going to be easy on Sideburn. He thinks it's his fault that Koji in this mess," X-brawn said.

"This is in no way, shape, or form any of you three's fault," Optimus emphasized.

"Try convincing Sideburn that. The only person that can is Koji."

* * *

"T-Ai are you sure you're alright?" Ultra Magnus asked as the girl dry heaved into a bucket in the Mainframe room.

"Yeah. I'll be fine in a minute," the girl said in between heaves. True to her word the heaves stopped in a few moments.

"Does that happen often?" The rogue asked.

"Every day around lunch," she admitted.

"Is that normal?"

"For someone in my condition, yes," she said reluctantly.

"What condition is that?"

"Ummm… I'm kind of… pregnant."

AN: "Koji's Son" fans should have seen that coming a mile away.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: As far as T-Ai's pregnancy goes, I don't know if the baby's going to be Rad like in "Koji's Son". I might not even run this story to the end of her pregnancy, which would be like six months from the time Koji was kidnapped. Like I said before after this I'm putting up the sequel to "Koji's Son". After that I might do a third story where Saka finally gets what's coming to him if you guys want me to. Or I could just get hit with a lot of ideas of Rad driving the Autobot insane in his early years. Not sure yet.

Oh yeah my cheery mood's gone for now so this chapter isn't going to be as happy as the last one.

Chapter 15

'Why didn't I ever try to get some fire proof clothes?' Koji thought as his back was singed again with the sparks from the ground firework that had been thrown into the cell. Scourge had switched from trying to cause constant fear to causing constant pain. 'Just my luck.'

"Eh" he cried out in pain as the second round of popping and sparks started. He felt something warm trickle down his back and knew the cut, which was apparently really a gash, that he'd received from the flying debris had opened again. It probably needed stitches and disinfectant. Unfortunately he didn't think Scourge was going to be interested in keeping him from dying of infection.

He suddenly felt like crying. Thoughts of his friends flashed through his mind. They'd helped him through the worst part of his life and he'd never really thanked them. It was a stupid thing to think about but he couldn't help it. He wanted to live long enough to thank them. To tell T-Ai how he really felt about her, not just the 'I like you' he'd given her when he was sixteen.

The tears came. His sarcastic outlook had vanished leaving him defenseless against the reality of his situation. He was most likely going to die in this place and never see his friends again.

* * *

"What?… How?… When?… Who?" Ultra Magnus shook his head trying to get his thoughts in order. He knew the answer as far as who. Koji had to be the father, all though he'd thought Koji would be more careful about this kind of thing. But then again parents usually explained the safe sex thing. Ultra Magnus couldn't see Optimus being able to read a paragraph on human reproduction much less explaining the consequences of it to Koji.

As far as how, he was pretty sure he didn't want to know. The when part confused him though. Koji had only been back on earth for a week and a half and he was pretty sure it took longer than that for the symptoms to manifest themselves. He was also pretty sure the father had to be present for the conception. And T-Ai had left Cybertron three months ago. She couldn't be three or more months along. Koji wouldn't keep this a secret from him. Optimus maybe… ok definitely, but not him… Unless Koji didn't know.

His job had just gotten a lot harder. "Damnit!"

* * *

"Axel I need you to go to Kyoto," Optimus told the younger Bot. If Axel was the slightest bit curious why he was being sent to Kyoto instead of an energon mine to start digging, he didn't show it.

"Yes sir," Axel replied turning to go. Before he reached the door he was nearly trampled by Ultra Magnus and Elita.

"I can't believe knew and didn't tell me!" Ultra Magnus yelled. Axel took off out the door. He didn't want to be caught up in another one of Optimus' family fights.

"I'm his lover, not yours" Elita said to Magnus while pointing at Optimus.

Magnus turned to Optimus. "YOU knew and didn't tell me! I'm your brother! At least that's what you keep telling me anyway".

"Know what?" Optimus asked, clearly confused.

"You didn't tell him?" Ultra Magnus asked Elita incredulously.

"It's their secret. It's not my place to tell anybody." Elita said solemnly.

"What secret?" Optimus asked not liking that he'd been left out of the loop.

Ultra Magnus turned to him and gave him this smirk that let him know he was going to regret asking. "Congratulations, _Grampa_".

* * *

"Ough," T-Ai moaned as she lay down in her room. Her morning sickness had finally subsided, hopefully for the day. Morning sickness was not fun in the least. Neither were any of the other symptoms but morning sickness happened the most often.

"Crap," she muttered thinking of Ultra Magnus' reaction to the news. He hadn't taken it so well. Actually that was a huge understatement. She'd never seen an Autobot throw a hissy fit before and never wanted to again. She shuddered at the memory of the rant he'd given her before Elita had come and drug him away.

She hoped that he didn't tell Koji. She was still trying to work up the nerve to tell him after two months. She hadn't been entirely sure she was pregnant until see ran the proper blood tests. She hadn't understood the early signs. She hadn't been raised human so she had never been told about this kind of stuff. It was only coincidence that she'd over heard one of the female scientists talking about how miserable her first pregnancy had been. After that she connected the dots and then ran the blood test. She'd never been so afraid in her life as when she found out for sure. She knew human males balked at having children before they were 'settled'. She was honestly scared that Koji would leave her when he found out.

T-Ai seriously hoped it wouldn't come to that.

* * *

"Optimus—Hey what's wrong with Optimus?" X-brawn asked, walking into the Autobot leader's office. He'd been wanting to talk to Optimus about how things were going on the 'Save Koji' front. Apparently things weren't going so great.

Optimus was on the ground twitching, Elita was glaring at Ultra Magnus, and Ultra Magnus was holding what looked to be a paperweight.

"What? You told me to get him to calm down," Ultra Magnus said defensively.

"I told you to calm him down, not scramble his circuitry!" the pissed off femme yelled.

"Well excuse me for not keeping tranquilizers handy," Ultra Magnus said sarcastically.

X-brawn backed quietly out of the room. He didn't want to be there when Optimus woke up. Especially if he was freaking out so bad that Elita had authorized Magnus to 'calm' him.

AN: Sorry for lateness and shortness. This chapter was hard coming.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: This chapter was a struggle but i've finally found a new inspiration

Chapter 16

"He's finally broken," Scourge laughed watching the screen. It showed Koji crying in his cell. The kid had been like this for three hours already.

It had taken awhile but it appeared the boy had finally given up hope of being rescued. This was good. Now he could start blackmailing Prime.

* * *

"Optimus… hellooo… I don't think he can hear me," Ultra Magnus said turning to Elita.

"Maybe we should get a medic in here," Elita said somewhat worried that Optimus hadn't come around yet.

"Oh that'll go over well. '_How did this happen?_' Oh I just slammed a paperweight into his head to shut him up. Do I look like I want to be sent to the brig for assaulting the commander… again," Ultra Magnus asked sarcastically, thinking of the last time he'd been charged with assault. It had been because Optimus had totally overreacted to one of Koji's escapades but it still hadn't been all that fun.

"Well we can't just leave him like this. If he doesn't come around in another minute I'm going for a medic," she said stubbornly. Then Optimus sat up with a moan.

"That's convenient," Ultra Magnus said with raised eyebrows. Elita rolled her eyes.

"Are alright sweetie?" Elita asked.

"My head hurts and I had the strangest dream about T-Ai being pregnant—wait I can't dream!"

* * *

Koji sat completely tense, forcing a shudder every few minutes. He had cried for half an hour before realizing something. He wanted to live to see his friends again and crying wasn't helping. If he wanted to find a way to escape or survive until Optimus could find away to rescue him he had to make the Deceptacons think he'd given up. So since he'd already been crying he decided to let them think he was still crying. Then he'd just have to act dejected and keep his eyes and ears open for something he could use.

* * *

"Optimus, this would be a good time to remember all those calming exercises you tried to teach me," Magnus said backing away from his older brother.

"How long have you known," Optimus growled.

"Ten minutes before I told you," Ultra Magnus said. "She knew longer," He said quickly, pointing at Elita.

Elita glared at him. "Thanks," she muttered sarcastically.

"How long did you know?" Optimus demanded.

"Three weeks," Elita admitted.

"And you didn't tell me before?"

"It's T-Ai's secret," Elita said defensively.

"Don't you mean T-Ai _and_ Koji's secret?" Optimus asked, picking up on what she'd really meant.

Elita sighed. "Koji doesn't know yet."

Optimus stared at her for a minute. "Damnit!" Optimus hissed.

"She's going to tell him soon," Elita said.

"She can't tell him," Optimus said sounding irritated.

"Why not?"

"Elita, have you honestly not heard what happened this morning?"

"Yeah, some Decepticons showed up and trashed downtown," she said not liking where this was going.

"And what's downtown?"

"The mall," she said hoping to whatever higher power there was out there that he wasn't going to say what she thought he was going to say.

"What else?"

"The fire house?" She was still in denial.

"Elita," Optimus sounded weary.

"No" she was shaking her head. Koji was like her son. They couldn't have been after him. There had to be something else important enough that Scourge would risk sending his troops to attack a block away from the base.

"They have him." They were only three words spoken softly but they brought Elita to her knees.

* * *

"Doesn't anybody ever check this thing?" T-Ai asked in general. She was currently checking all the transmissions that had been received while she took her lunch break. Usually reading and sending the messages to the right persons email took five minutes tops. But usually she was part of the system. Doing it all manually took hours.

"We really need to get a new system," she sighed only half way done after an hour and a half. Of course someone chose that minute to send yet another message. "Grrr".

She opened it ready to bite whoever it was sent to's head off. She stopped. Then she fainted.

* * *

"How can he just expect us to do nothing about this?" Sideburn asked for the second time in five minutes.

"He wants us to stay out of this because he thinks we're to emotional and right about now I agree with him," X-brawn snapped.

"What!"

"You've just been sitting here moaning since he told us what happened. You don't look all tha' in control ta me," X-brawn snapped again before leaving the room.

* * *

"In Tokyo today, three Decepticons were reported to have launched an assault on a on a neighborhood mere blocks from the Autobot mainbase. It has not been announced if there were any casualties or what they were after but-" Lieutenant Alexandra Sparter turned off the TV. She'd heard enough to know what she had to do next. She picked up the phone and dialed. The other end picked up after three rings.

"General Sparter speaking."

"Dad, we need to talk."

AN: General Sparter's the guy from the first fic. read the prologue of "What if?"


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Well I own the Sparters and most of the plot.

AN: I've finally gotten over my writers block. YES!

Chapter 17

"So we're on track now?" Optimus asked. Elita and Ultra Magnus both nodded. After Elita had recovered from her shock Optimus had explained his plan. If Koji could hold out another three or four days they would be able to trace the signal from the tracking device in that was hidden under one of his shoulder blades, gather a rescue crew, and retrieve the boy. The signal was hard to track be it was on a special frequency that could only be picked up by Omega Prime's sensors, which wouldn't be available until they made sure Optimus didn't receive any circuit damage from the paper weight incident.

"Well if you don't want to get knocked over the head you shouldn't freak out like that," Ultra Magnus said defensively.

* * *

"Xandra, we've had this discussion before and the answer is no!, Gen. Sparter told his daughter stubbornly. Even through the phone he could feel her determination.

"Dad, have you seen the news?" Xandra asked getting frustrated with her father's stubborn attitude.

"Yes."

"Then you know why we have to do this," Xandra said.

"We will do _nothing_," Gen. Sparter hissed. Then he flinched at the way that that had sounded. "I feel compassion for what the boy has been through but-"

"He has a name, Dad," Xandra cut him off.

"But getting involved won't help us at all Xandra," He finished harshly.

"But it might help him," Xandra said, determined.

"Prime probably has his entire army searching for the boy _if_ anything has even happened." The last part was said almost flippantly.

"Four years ago you would have said Prime wasn't a suitable guardian for Koji. You tried your hardest to convince Optimus to let Koji be put into foster care."

"Prime has proven to be a valuable ally to our planet-"

"Back then you didn't give a damn about what was good for the planet! You were thinking about what was best for Koji! The UN saw Koji as a bargaining chip to make an alliance with the Autobots. You saw him as a child who had just lost his father. You aren't going to just sit there and tell me you don't care about him. Despite how much you hated Onishi. No matter how much you hated _her_ for not falling in line with your plan for us, you care about that boy! Even if you deny it and refuse to help me, I'm going to see what I can do to help him. We _both_ owe him that much," Xandra finished.

She heard him sigh on the other end of the line. "Fine. We'll offer our help _but_ nothing more," her father conceded. She smiled. He might have no intention of doing the right thing but she did. Koji maybe almost fully grown but he still needed a connection to his past. A connection she could give him.

* * *

"Why is T-Ai unconscious?" Optimus asked, wondering if this day could possibly get worse.

"Excess strain on her emotional health," Red Alert intoned.

"Red Alert, I just had my head bashed in. Anything that isn't in layman's terms is going to go straight over my head," Optimus told the medic.

"She fainted from shock," the medic supplied simply.

"What shocked her?" Optimus asked wearily.

"Apparently we received a message from the Deceptacons about Koji and she read it," Red Alert monotoned.

"Shit!"

"Miracle upon miracles. Prime says something worse then damn," Ultra Magnus said walking in just in time to hear his brother's improper language.

"Shut it Magnus, we've got another problem."

"Yeah that Sparter guy's coming. He'll be in an hour or two."

"May I ask why?" Optimus asked, wondering why he'd even gotten out of bed this morning.

"Don't know. All they told us in the message was that he and some lieutenant got authorization to use the DC base warp gate to come and speak to you," Ultra Magnus told him, rather indifferent.

"Let me know when they arrive. I have another message I have to check at the moment."

* * *

Optimus turned off the monitor after reading Scourge's message and watching the footage that came with it. Scourge demanded that the Autobots give up their outposts in sector V, W, X,Y, and Z. He also wanted the two prisoners released. If his demands were not met he'd be sending Koji back in a few pieces.

"Magnus," Optimus said into his communicator.

"Yeah."

"We need to do this _now._"

* * *

Axel had been watching the Saka house for three hours. He was fairly sure that the entire family was inside. From the movement inside he guessed they were getting ready to go out somewhere.

Sure enough, five minutes later the group left, carrying a picnic basket and pushing a stroller with their young son in it. At first glance they looked like your average family going out for an afternoon picnic. But Axel noticed that both Hao and Misa seemed nervous. They were both constantly looking over their shoulders, probably expecting Optimus to show up anyminute to blast them both into next week. Even Yama seemed to be picking up on his parents' nervousness. The boy was irritated over something anyway.

* * *

Omega Prime stood in the middle of Optimus' office. He was concentrating very hard on the distant signal that would lead him to where the Deceptacon had Koji hidden.

"Figures they'd hide him in plain sight," Omega growled when he finally located where the signal was coming from.

AN: long weekend. yay


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: I'm trying to steer this story towards an ending but so far it been difficult. Oh and T-Ai's like four months along

Chapter 18

"You two know where he is?" Elita asked when she saw them enter the infirmary. She'd been staying with T-Ai, who had woken up and was now looking hopefully at them while rubbing her stomach which Optimus noticed had become slighty rounded.

"Scourge took him to Cybertron."

"That's suicide! Megatron hates him and last time you fought him you were shooting to kill! Is he nuts?" T-Ai asked.

"No, he's smart," Ultra Magnus said.

"Huh?" T-Ai asked, clearly confused.

"Cybertron's the last place any of us would have thought to look for them. Like you said Megatron hates him and would tear him apart. Megatron might even have helped Koji… well he wouldn't kill him anyway," Ultra Magnus explained.

"So how long until you can go retrieve him?" T-Ai asked.

"We need to get a decent idea of what we'll be going up against. I'm going to speak with our Deceptacon-ahem- guests about that now," Optimus said heading for the door.

"Actually General Sparter's here and he's demanding that you speak with him immediately," Elita told. Optimus could be seen flexing his hands like he wanted to wrap them around someone's throat. He was getting tired of all the interruptions. They'd already wasted enough time.

"I'll speak to him later," Optimus said trying to continue to where the prisoners were being kept.

"I think you'll want to hear what Lieutenant Sparter has to say."

Optimus stopped. "Don't you mean General Sparter?"

"No. Lieutenant Sparter. General Sparter's daughter"

"I'll speak to them," Optimus decided. His interest was peaked.

* * *

"Hello Prime," General Sparter greeted the Autobot politely, but anyone who had eyes or optics could tell he wanted to be as far away from there as possible.

"General," Optimus nodded a greeting. He studied the General's daughter. Something about her seemed familiar. Her eyes somehow reminded him of Koji despite the difference in color.

"We came to offer our help," General Sparter said reluctantly.

"I'm not exactly sure what you can do," Optimus told them studying their faces very closely.

"We felt it was necessary to offer," General Sparter looked like he was going to take this opportunity to leave.

"Why?" Optimus asked, truly wanting to know the answer.

"We both knew Koji's mother very well," the Lieutenant spoke for the first time.

"You served with Colonel Onishi?" This did surprise Optimus. Sparter hadn't mentioned it once when they were discussing Koji four years ago, before the official meeting with the UN. Then again Sparter had inquired about Koji's health or general well being occasionally so it made sense.

"Not exactly," the General was giving his daughter a death glare that could probably scare Ultra Magnus.

"She and I grew up together," Lieutenant Sparter informed him, ignoring her father's glare with ease. "We were still close up until she married Dr. Onishi."

"So you were her best friend?" Optimus asked getting the feeling that he was missing something that was staring him straight in the face.

"Back when she was Colonel Sparter, yes"

* * *

T-Ai was walking miserably down the hall toward the Autobot brother's room. Hopefully one of them would give her a ride to Koji's house. She didn't feel up to walking but she felt like she needed to be somewhere close to Koji. And since he was halfway across the galaxy, his house was the best she could do.

"T-Ai?" T-Ai jumped in surprise. She'd almost walked right by Sideburn without even seeing him.

"Oh, hi Sideburn," T-Ai said.

"Are you ok?" Sideburn sounded very concerned.

"Yes…No… I need to go to Koji's. Could you giveme a ride?" she asked softly.

"T-Ai. You do know Koji's not there?" Sideburn tried to tell her gently. From her manner he could tell she knew something about what was going on.

"Yes. But I just need to be there," her voice had started to tremble.

"Alright."

* * *

As Sideburn watched asT-Ai open the door and went into Koji's house. She hadn't cried although he could tell she wanted to. They said love was often tested but Sideburn doubted that most humans went through this kind test. But T-Ai and Koji loved each other so he was pretty sure that they'd make it through.

* * *

T-Ai had only been inside Koji's house once before when it was being fixed up for Koji to move back in. Back then it had been neat and clean, now it was messy and felt … homey, like the family had just gone to the store and would be back any minute.

Her stomach growled reminding her that most of her lunch had come back up and her son wanted nourishment. She smiled slightly despite the circumstances. While Red Alert had been running test to make sure the baby was fine (how he knew about the baby she had no idea) he'd run a scan to find out the gender of the baby. He'd announced right before she left that he was 90 percent sure that she was going to have a son.

From what she remembered about the layout of the ground floor of the house the kitchen was just down the hallway from the entrance hall. She didn't remember all the pictures on the hallway walls but she had been busy that day. Now she had time to stop and look at them. She watched in wonder as the pictures showed all the stages of Koji's life going from twelve to newborn. One showed Koji laughing; holding a good-sized bass while his father seemed to be dripping from a dip in the river. Another was of Dr. Onishi trying to cook something that looked like a fish shaped piece of charcoal over a campfire. Then Dr. Onishi and a two and a half year old Koji covered in flour, with a caption at the bottom that read 'Why I never let Hisao come anywhere near my kitchen'. She guessed that Koji's real mom had written that since she really couldn't picture Misa writing something like that. The picture that caught her attention the most didn't have Koji in it at all. It was of Dr. Onishi and a woman who T-Ai guessed was his first wife. The two were dressed formally and holding hands, staring into each other's eyes while a man stood in front of them reading from a book. It took a moment but T-Ai finally realized the couple was exchanging their wedding vows.

Her stomach growled again and she felt a slight pressure that had nothing to do with hunger. Red Alert had given her some information about the stages of pregnancy. He'd warned her that the baby would start kicking soon and it would feel like her kidneys were being used as soccer balls.. She continued into the kitchen in search of food.

AN: I have no idea when babys start to kick since I have never been pregnant myself but I went to a site that said the start moving around at 26 weeks. I couldn't really stay on that site very long because if my mom found out she'd freak and thinkI was looking for information for my self or something.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: to settle any confusion in my last author's note I'M NOT PREGNANT! Thank you

To ALPAUST: this hasn't turned into a Soap Opera yet

Chapter 19

"What do mean by when she was Colonel Sparter?" Optimus asked the young Lieutenant, already knowing the answer.

"Colonel Eris Onishi's maiden name was Sparter. She was my older sister," Lieutenant Sparter answered.

Optimus looked shocked. He'd known Sparter for four years. He asked Sparter for advice regarding Koji's safety, upbringing, and stuff about Koji in general and Sparter hadn't ever even hinted that Koji was… 'Koji's his grandson!' Optimus thought. Several things flashed through his mind. Like why hadn't the General tried to have a more active role in his grandson's life? Actually he knew the answer to that. Koji had unknowingly answered that question years ago. _Besides, Mom's family didn't approve of her marrying a foreigner._

"Koji mentioned having an aunt that was a lawyer," Optimus said. Koji had never mentioned having any relatives in the military other than his mother.

"Janet. She's the oldest. Got married right after law school and had seven kids," Lieutenant Sparter smiled.

"Koji said she had five kids."

"She had two more in the last three years. This family has a habit of turning out a lot of kids, especially when they start early."

Optimus inwardly groaned. 'Great, Koji's probably going to have twenty then'.

"I take it Koji doesn't know about you," Optimus looked between the two suspiciously.

"That would be Dad's fault," Lieutenant Sparter jerked her thumb in her father's direction.

"Excuse me-" Sparter sputtered.

"You were the one who disowned her," Lieutenant Sparter smiled sarcastically. Optimus knew then were Koji's sarcastic outlook on things came from.

"If she'd acted reasonable-"

"What's your definition of reasonably, General?" Optimus asked. Koji had spent his entire life cut off from his mother's family and it appeared that the family was divided on their opinion about the Colonel's choice of husband.

"Not running off and getting married just because she got pregnant," General Sparter spat out.

"Huh?" Optimus was dumbfounded at this revelation. 'What is with this family and out of wedlock pregnancy?'

"The only reason she married Onishi was because she was pregnant with his child," Sparter said looking upset.

"What was she suppose to do then?"

"Dad wanted her to abort it," Lieutenant Sparter announced simply.

"I only told her to consider her options before rushing into something she might regret," Sparter defended.

"The first words out of your mouth when she told you she was pregnant were 'Abort it,'" Lieutenant Sparter said casually.

"Excuse me but by abort do you mean killing the baby before it's fully formed?" Optimus asked barely controlling his rage. The "it" Sparter had told his daughter to "abort" was Koji. Sparter had wanted his daughter to kill Koji before the boy was even born. To Optimus that was about the same as what Scourge and Hao Saka had tried to do. He wouldn't tolerate anybody talking about HIS 'son' like that.

"She a career and a relationship to worry about," Sparter tried to reason.

"Relationship?" Optimus felt like a parrot. A parrot who was seriously contemplating crushing the man in front of him, but a parrot all the same.

"She was engaged!" Sparter yelled.

"No she wasn't," Lieutenant Sparter said.

"She was going to be engaged," Sparter conceded.

"No she wasn't," Lieutenant Sparter said again.

"Yes she was," Sparter said.

"No, you wanted her to be engaged to Randy because he was a military man and fit into your plan for us. She went out on one date with him to shut you up and then dumped him," Lieutenant Sparter explained.

"How would you know?"

"Because he and I sat on the couch making out for twenty minutes and all she said was get a room," Lt. Sparter smiled.

Sparter just glared at his daughter.

"Maybe we should move this argument to a quieter place," Optimus suggested. The warp room was getting crowded, too crowded for this kind of argument. 'Is Koji's whole family devoid of a sense of discretion?' Optimus wondered.

* * *

"Umm." T-Ai love chocolate ice cream. Especially when it was smothered in double fudge chocolate syrup. It wasn't the healthiest thing to have but at least it was better than the fries dipped in rocky road ice cream and cheese covered pickles she'd had yesterday.

She looked around the kitchen that she'd made into a total mess. It hadn't been to clean to begin with but now it looked like it had in the picture she'd seen of Koji and his father trying to cook in it. T-Ai figured she should try to tidy up a bit. Looking through the drawers for a washrag she found another picture. She'd seen an empty space on the wall and figured Koji had taken it down for some reason.

It didn't fit the mood of the other pictures. The other pictures were of happy times. This one obviously wasn't. It was of Koji and his mother holding on to each other crying.

'This must have been before she left for the final time' T-Ai thought. "Ow!" she felt a sharp kick to her left kidney. She smiled even though it had hurt. Her baby kicked for the first time. It was a special occasion. One she'd wanted to share with Koji. He was missing out on all this stuff because she hadn't had the guts to tell him she was pregnant.

T-Ai clutched the picture to her chest and finally broke down into sobs.

AN: Update will be slowing down soon since i might be doing a winter sport.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: This is the fic that refuses to end. Only a few more chapters.

P.S: have any of you been ona swim team. 2 hours in the water,ten minutes(total)to change and dry off, and an hour on the road leaves very little time for writing.

Chapter 20

"Have we received a return message from Prime?" Scourge asked Bouncer, who was monitoring all the communication channels.

"No sir. But there has been an unusual amount of activity among the Predicons though," Bouncer informed him.

"Keep an eye on it," Scourge ordered. He didn't like the sound of it.

* * *

"Are you sure it's a good idea to just leave the Sparters alone like this, Prime?" Ultra Magnus asked as they headed toward the warp gate.

"I can deal with them when Koji is safe. At the moment they are an unnecessary distraction," Optimus said. "If we wait much longer to go after Koji all we'll get back is a body and I don't want that cemetery to get another Onishi head stone anytime soon."

As they entered the warp room, they were greeted by the sight of the three Autobot brothers and Axel. To Ultra Magnus' surprise Optimus didn't ask any of the brothers to leave.

"Remember this is all about stealth and surprise," Optimus told them. They all nodded. "Let's go then."

* * *

"Oww," T-Ai woke to yet another sharp kick. She'd fallen asleep on the kitchen floor and her back wasn't happy about it. Neither was her son, apparently. She had a feeling that she was going to raise a kickboxing champ. The baby was already practicing.

"Ok, ok I'll find a bed," she said to her self. The baby settled down after that.

She put the picture back in the drawer incase Koji ever decided to go looking for it. Then she headed for the stairs. She was pretty sure that there was a guestroom on the second floor.

Unfortunately for T-Ai only two rooms were unlocked. One contained a thick metal table and an assortment of small weapons, Axel's room obviously. The other room held Koji's belongings, a bed that hadn't been slept in, and thankfully no weapons.

She was about to go back downstairs when she noticed another set of stairs. The door at the top was slightly ajar. Curiosity compelled her to climb the stairs and see what was on the other side.

As she neared the room she caught the scent of lavender and dust. On the other side of the door she found a room half full of dusty boxes. She wondered why Koji kept so much stuff he probably didn't need. 'Maybe we should have cleaned the entire house' T-Ai thought to herself. The cleaning crew had been ordered to leave the basement and the attic alone.

A box near her was ripped down the side revealing a bit of cloth. Upon closer inspection she realized that it was woman's clothing. Opening the box T-Ai found an odd assortment of clothing. Some were formal wear, others causal wear, and finally military fatigues. Also, she found two pieces of metal on a metal chain. She'd seen a pair exactly like them before. Koji had been wearing them. He still did, under his shirt. Koji had told her that it was his mother's spare dog tags… meaning these were the ones she died wearing.

Death was nothing new to T-Ai. She'd had friends that had gone off on assignments and never came back. She'd felt a sense of loss when they died but that didn't compare to the sadness she felt for a woman she'd never even met.

T-Ai sat down on a makeshift bed that smelled, she noticed strangely enough, like Koji. She fell asleep shortly after that.

* * *

Apparently his plan had worked. Scourge hadn't been back since they firework incident. The unfortunate side affect of that plan was that they stopped feeding himas well but he could last a few days with out food. Plus he had a nasty feeling that they were planning a painful, long drawn out way to kill him, probably involving monologueing.

"You win some you lose some," Koji sighed.

"Or you could win them all," voice said from above him. Koji looked up and saw what resembled a flying squirrel.

"Umm… give me a minute," Koji tried to remember the Predicon's name.

"It's Dark Scream!" the squirrel yelled.

"Yeah… how did you get in here?" Koji asked.

"The ventilation system," Dark Scream said simply.

"Why does this place have a ventilation system?"

"They need to keep you alive, don't they?" Dark Scream said nervously.

"Yeah but go through all that trouble. It would be easier to just…this is an old research lab isn't it?" Koji realized.

"Uhh… yeah."

"Which one?"

"Research Center 587"

"Alright."

"Uhh... we really need to go now," Dark Scream said, wondering how long it would be before somebody realized that they were no longer watching a live feed of Koji's cell.

"Ok where are we going?"

"Do you honestly care right now?" Dark Scream asked.

"No."

AN: Don't worry there's still a big show down coming up.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I own nothing

_Dream Sequence_

AN: Thank god for weekends

Chapter 21

"Why are these damn vents so small?" Dark Scream complained. He kept bumping his head on theroof of the vent.

"There really not that small" Koji informed him. "In human buildings they're usually about two and a half feet high." Dark Scream shuddered at the thought, thinking of a human movie called 'Salem's Lot' where the human had broken his hips and shoulders to try and get at the other human through the ventilation system.

"Guess it's all a matter of prospective," Dark Scream said, seeing that Koji could stand straight up.

"So, why did you come?" Koji asked the question he'd been wondering about for a while.

"We couldn't all fit in the vent, and I lost the coin toss," Dark Scream sighed. "Now that I think about they probably used a two headed coin."

"So I'm assuming Megatron is somehow involved in this," Koji said.

"Yeah. He couldn't refuse a chance to kick Scourge's skidplate. He' still a little bitter about Scourge sitting on his throne."

"Megatron sure can hold a grudge," Koji commented.

"This thing with Scourge is nothing, you should have seen him when his girlfriend ran off with an Autobot."

* * *

_T-Ai looked around her. She was in Koji's living room but it looked different than it had a few hours ago. It was neat and tidy except for a few odd pieces of clothing. Including a woman's jacket. 'Where did that come from?' she thought. It wasn't her's. Had some friend of Koji's come over looking for him? Was there some other girl in his life?_

"_Hisao," a woman's voice came from the kitchen._

"_You can't actually be thinking of going? That's crazy!" a man, who appeared to be Dr. Onishi followed the woman into the living room._

"_I don't have a choice Hisao. They already sent me my orders. I leave next week," the woman said._

"_Why don't you retire? You given them enough years that you should be allowed to retire with honors," Dr. Onishi argued._

"_A few months ago yes. But I can't, in good conscious, retireduring wartime. Besides there will be enough people trying to get out as it is, they wouldn't be able to process my resignation for months anyway," Col. Onishi said._

"_You could call your father for help," Dr. Onishi suggested. _

"_Yeah right. He's still pissed that I didn't give Randy a second glance," Col. Onishi said._

"_Eris, I can't take care of Koji on my own. He needs you more than he needs me," Dr. Onishi said._

"_Hopefully this will all blow over in a couple months," the Colonel said._

"_And if it doesn't?" _

"_We'll deal with it."

* * *

_

"Where the hell is Prime?" Sparter asked for the third time the last minute.

"Uh-huh. Yeah right Randy," Alexandra Sparter said into her cell phone. Her father hadn't realized that she'd been talking to her long time boyfriend for the past hour, completly ignoring his rant.

"Xandra!"

"Okay, dinner next week in Baltimore Inner Harbor. See ya then," Xandra said before hanging up.

"Why were you talking to Col. Brig?" General Sparter asked, vein throbbing in his forehead.

"We had plans for dinner tonight but since I obviously can't make it I had to reschedule," Xandra explained.

* * *

"What is taking them so long?" Optimus asked no one in particular.

"My Predicons have to locate the boy and crawl through small vents to retrieve him. Excuse me if they can't do all that in five minutes," Megatron spat.

"It's been an hour," Optimus sighed. He was getting tired of this waiting; he wanted Koji back on earth by morning.

* * *

"Will you hurry up Dark Scream," Sky-byte hissed as the Predicon finally emerged from the ventilation system.

"Sorry. We took a wrong turn at the furnace and had to find a oxygen suit for him," Dark Scream said climbing down. "You coming?" He asked Koji who was still standing on the edge of the vent.

"Um. Humans can't jump from twenty feet without getting hurt," Koji said looking dubiously at the drop.

"Oh," Sky-byte quickly picked the boy up and set him down on ground. "Now let's get back to the others."

* * *

"Optimus, they're clear of the complex," Prowl announced after receiving Sky-Byte's transmission.

"Good. Everyone move in. I want their-" Optimus paused and looked at Megatron.

"What?"

"Force of habit. Last time we were working together like this you glared at me every time I referred to something as theirs. Anyway I want their base demolished after this."

"Ok."

"Axel. You know what to do?"

"Yes sir," Axel said transforming and driving off in the direction of Koji and the Predicons.

* * *

"What's that?" Slapper asked, looking at the approaching cloud of dust.

"Transform,"Axel transformed as he reached them. "They're starting," he told the Predicons. The Predicons nodded and headed toward the Decepticon's base.

"Come on Koji we got to go now. They're attacking the Decepticon base. we don't need to get caught in the crossfire," Axel told his friend.

"Is Optimus pissed?" Koji asked. He really wanted to make sure he wasn't grounded again, so he could at least be happy about being rescued.

"If he tries to ground you ask him about that tracking device under your shoulder blade"Axel suggested. He smiled to let Koji know he wasn't mad either.

"WHAT?"


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: I hate the flu. If this seems odd it's because my flu-addled brain wrote it. I, Miss I Never Sleep More Than Seven Hours A Day, have slept 20 of the last 48 hours, not including the nap during seventh period.

Chapter 22

"Scourge the human's gone!" Bouncer yelled running back into the main room after checking on Koji.

"WHAT? When did he get a chance to escape?" Scourge yelled.

"We don't know! We were watching the surveillance screen the whole time," Bouncer answered.

"Find him and kill him! He's more trouble than he's worth!" Scourge ordered.

"We could say the same about you Scourge," a new voice put in.

* * *

"Remind you of the old days" Axel yelled, as he raced over Cybertron's rough surface.

"Kind of. Usually if we were going this fast it was cause we ticked somebody off or were going to miss curfew," Koji yelled back.

"Remember the time we actually did miss curfew?"

"Yeah. We were lucky T-Ai was monitoring the back entrance or we would have been screwed," Koji laughed.

* * *

CLANG!

"Decepticons! Do something!" Scourge yelled picking himself up off the floor. The Decepticons in the room launched themselves at the Autobot brothers, Megatron, and the Predicons. Omega Prime went after Scourge.

"AHHH!" Scourge screamed as he felt his good arm being ripped off.

"You should have stayed missing Scourge," Omega hissed. He been holding back his rage since he'd gotten the news that Koji was missing and now he really just wanted to pound Scourge into scrap metal.

Scourge hadn't prepared to fight Omega Prime. He'd planned on blackmailing the Autobots from a distance, not to engage them in battle. Omega Prime had, over the past four years, found a new depth to his rage. Omega hadn't been showing mercy last time but he hadn't been this ferocious this early in the fight. Maybe he should have just had the kid killed on earth. At least then the kid would be dead. That thought would have given Scourge a lot of comfort as he was slowly ripped limb from limb.

Apparently Prime planned on being slightly merciful. He pulled out a particularly dangerous looking cannon and fired.

* * *

The Autobots and Predicons surveyed the destruction on the base. Scourge and several other Deceptacons lay dead on the ground. Most of the others had fled after Scourge was killed. Others were injured to badly to escape.

"I think we got the message across," Ultra Magnus said looking at his brother.

"Yes, I think so," Optimus agreed, thankful that Magnus had reminded him that this had been to make sure everyone knew that Koji was not to be targeted for any purpose. And those who forgot that would be subject to Optimus' wrath.

"Let's go Optimus. Axel's probably got Koji to the warp gate and on they're way back to Earth," Magnus said softly.

"Alright."

* * *

"Why didn't we use that when Optimus decided I need to come back to earth?" Koji asked stepping out of the warp room.

"He wanted you to have time to adjust to coming back. Traveling by ship gives you lot's of thinking time," Axel explained.

"Whatever. I really want to get home," Koji stopped when he realized what he'd just said. He'd called the house home, 'I need to get kidnapped more often. I swear there's something therapeutic about' Koji thought.

"That better of been Prime coming through that gate," an old man in military uniform said angrily coming down the hall. He stopped dead when he saw Koji. Koji had never seen anybody's jaw drop that far.

"Uhh. Hi," Koji said looking at the man with what he was sure was a confused frown.

"Just ignore him," a woman, who looked around thirty, said.

"Koji you need to get home and rest some. Once Optimus gets back I don't think you'll be resting much," Axel said steering him away from the two strangers. Koji went willingly. Once Optimus got back he'd probably keep Koji practically glued to his side for a few days.

* * *

Xandra chuckled slightly as she watched her nephew walk away. That confused look he'd worn at her father's reactionto himreminded her so much of her big sister. The tilt of his head as he'd said hi was one of her sister's habits that had always stood out in her memory.

"He's- he's," Sparter for once seemed to be at a loss for words.

"I know Dad," Xandra chuckled.

"But he's- he's," Sparter still couldn't say what he was thinking.

"Trust me, I know" Xandra said putting her arm around her father's shoulders. "You can tell him after he's had a goodnights sleep and a decent meal."

* * *

"Axel, did you cook something while I was gone?" Koji asked looking at the mess he liked to call the kitchen.

"Cook what?" Axel asked. Obviously his food didn't require preparation.

"Yeah," Koji said looking around the kitchen. It was the only room in the entire house he insisted on keeping clean.

"I'm going to bed. Check the security system and see if one of the crazy people next door broke in and stole our food again," he said heading for the stairs. 'Why can't I have sane neighbors?' he asked whatever higher power might be listening.

He didn't even stop at his room. To many bad memories in there to get a good nights sleep on that bed. The attic was the only place he'd get that.

The door was standing wide open. He was sure he'd shut it most of the way yesterday morning when he left. 'This is getting weird' he thought. Walking in he found one of the boxes open. Also he found someone sleeping on his pallet.

"T-Ai?" T-Ai was sound asleep on his make shift bed. Well not entirely sound asleep since her eyes sprung open at the sound of his voice. They sat and stared at each other for a few minutes. Then after assuring herself that he was real and she wasn't dreaming T-Ai flung her self into Koji's arms crying.

Koji slightly surprised at this outburst just sat there rubbing her back gently. 'Her stomach didn't use to touch mine when we hugged like this' he thought after a few minutes. Before he could think further on that he felt something press against him through T-Ai' stomach.

He pulled back in surprise. And saw her now rounded belly.

"Um, surprise," T-Ai said nervously.

AN:To answer all questions I see coming, yes Scourge is dead, yes I'm evil, and no this is not the end


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: sick again. Damn weather can't decide if it wants to be freezing or sweltering.

Warning: one or two bad words.

Chapter23

"Well he took it better than Optimus did," Axel said trying to lighten the mood. He'd carried Koji to the couch in the living room after he'd went upstairs to investigate a loud thump. He'd been pretty surprised to find T-Ai in the attic with Koji.

"Yes, but only because he isn't conscious to yell!" T-Ai hissed. She hadn't expected Koji to faint. Yell, freak, throw a hissy fit, but not faint.

"Oooww," Koji moaned waking up. 'That was odd' he thought. He saw T-Ai's stomach. 'Crap I'm going to pass out again' he thought as fell back on the couch.

"Hey man. Try to stay with us, ok buddy?" Axel said grabbing Koji to keep him from hitting his head.

"Ok," Koji said still staring at T-Ai's stomach. "Umm?" he still couldn't take his eyes off her stomach.

"Yes Koji," T-Ai answered, finally understanding the look he was giving her.

"Ok then. I'm going to pass out now and deal with imminent fatherhood when I wake up," Koji said losing consciousness again.

* * *

"Dad, seriously you're going to catch flies," Xandra informed her father. He finally shut his mouth, which had been hanging open since Koji left.

"But he's-"

"Dad you're starting to sound like a broken record," Xandra sighed.

"But- he's- he's so much like her," he finally managed to get out.

"I know, Dad."

"The way he looked at me. It was like I was staring her straight in the face again," he said.

"Actually I think he looks a lot like his dad," Xandra put in. Sparter gave her a withering glare. "Just stating an opinion," she said defensively.

"He acts just like her. Thinks like her too, I can see it in his eyes," Sparter said mentally comparing the boy to his long dead daughter. "He's just like her," he said again, more to himself than his daughter.

* * *

"You feeling alright Sideburn?" Prowl asked after returning through the warp gate.

"Yeah. I really needed that," Sideburn said refering to the ass kicking he'd given the Deceptacons. It had made him feel slightly better about fighting with Koji at the skate park two days ago. Last time something bad happened to Koji, Sideburn had been to injured to do any fighting and by the time he had recovered Optimus decided to ship him back to Cybertron with Koji and Ultra Magnus.

* * *

"PRIME!" Sparter yelled.

"He doesn't sound happy," Ultra Magnus stated the obvious. Optimus glared at him. He wanted to see Koji before he dealt with Sparter. He hadn't seen the boy since before he was kidnapped and he really wanted to make sure he wasn't too hurt.

"Prime!" Sparter growled this time.

"General Sparter I will talk to you later. I really need to speak with Koji right now," Optimus said walking past the man.

"Don't bother. He already went home. Said he needed some sleep," Sparter said crossing his arms.

'He should have gone to the infirmary, Magnus said he was bleeding pretty badly the morning he was taken' Optimus thought.

"What do you want to talk about, General?" Optimus asked.

"I want to talk about my grandson."

Optimus glared at Sparter for a minute. First the man wanted Koji aborted, and then he ignored him for seventeen years including right after Dr. Onishi died; now he was referring to Koji as his grandson. Sparter didn't seem to be able to get his mind made up about Koji. He said as much to Sparter except in more words and less nicely.

* * *

"Crap," Koji said when he realized he wasn't going to pass out again. Now he had to deal with imminent fatherhood. Actually it was more the painful death Optimus was going to give him when he found out about Koji's imminent fatherhood that scared Koji. 'If he freaks to bad I can always give Magnus the _good_ blackmail pictures for Christmas' he thought.

"Koji?" T-Ai said hesitantly from the door of the living room.

"Yeah."

"Are you alright?" she asked. She'd bandaged his back while he was out. The cuts had been infected. She was afraid the infection was going to make him sick.

"Yeah, just figuring out away to blackmail Optimus," Koji sighed.

"About that," T-Ai said coming to sit next to him.

"You didn't throw out my good blackmail pictures did you?" Koji asked, suddenly very worried.

"No it's not that... Optimus already knows," T-Ai said.

"How bad did he take it?" Koji didn't want to know but curiosity demanded he ask.

"Elita said Ultra Magnus had to _calm_ him with a paperweight," T-Ai shuddered. Hopefully those blackmail pictures Koji mention were really good cause otherwise she might be raising her son alone due to lack of a living boyfriend.

"How many people know already?"

"Elita because you can't really hide anything from her-" Koji nodded, knowing how omniscient his foster mother was "Ultra Magnus because he noticed my morning sickness and wouldn't leave me alone until I told him, and Optimus because Magnus blabbed," T-Ai explained.

"Oy. You've had a hard few days," Koji sympathized.

"Yeah."

"So," Koji said searching for a subject to fill the silence "It kicks," he said nodding toward her stomach.

"Yes, he kicks. He loves using my kidneys as soccer balls," T-Ai smiled.

"He. It's a boy?" Koji asked.

"Yup. Red Alert did a scan yesterday. He eighty to ninety percent sure that it is, indeed, a boy," she said.

"Which translates to one hundred percent sure in Red Alert language because he's never wrong," Koji laughed.

"Pretty much- oph. Speaking of kicking," T-Ai rubbed her stomach after a particularly strong kick. "He's either going to be a soccer player or a kick boxer when he grows up," she laughed through the pain.

"Can I...umm," Koji didn't know how to finish.

"Yes," T-Ai said putting Koji's hand over the spot she'd last felt the baby kick. In another second the baby kicked again. T-Ai couldn't help but laugh at the look on Koji's face. He looked like a little boy on Christmas morning.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: I have quit the swim team due to some issues. writers block is killing me.

Chapter 24

"Does it ever stop?" Optimus groaned. Sparter had been pounding on the door to his office for twelve hours straight. The man wasn't that young, his grandson was going to be a father soon for primus sake. He should have had to rest hours ago, or keel over from a heart attack. Optimus was really starting to hope for the latter of the two. It would bring silence to his office and save him from having to explain to Koji that Sparter was his grandfather.

"PRIME! Open this damn door now!" Sparter yelled through the door.

"Does he honestly think that's going to work after twelve hours?" Optimus asked despite being alone in his office.

"Optimus if you don't open this door and shut this freak up you'll be sleeping in your office for the next twenty years!" Elita yelled through the door. Optimus quickly opened the door.

* * *

"You sure you're ready for this?" T-Ai asked from the bed as she watched Koji get dressed.

"Yes. If I wait too long Optimus will order me there and we all know that that won't end good," Koji sighed. The phrase 'nurse you back to health so I can kill you' came to mind when he thought of his upcoming talk with the Autobot leader.

"He's had a day or so to think about it. Plus I was the one that kept it secret, you didn't even know," T-Ai tried to reassure him.

"You may have been the one that kept it secret but I was raised human. I'm suppose to know about what can result from," Koji blushed, "well...that."

T-Ai giggled at Koji's face. He was still so innocent despite everything he'd gone through. "Well it was never actually explained to you," she tried to make him feel better. Koji just blushed harder.

* * *

"He's my grandson goddamnit. I have a say in this!"

"Really? Last time I checked he didn't even know you existed!"

"Huh?" Koji walked into Optimus' office catching the end of the yelling match.

Optimus looked startled to see him. He had thought Koji was going to put coming till it couldn't be avoided anymore. Hopefully Sparter would shut up and leave before any questions were asked. No such luck.

"Hi," Koji said hesitantly, looking at Sparter. Really looking this time, not just seeing. He noticed Sparter looked familiar.

"Koji? I assume you have a reason to be here so soon," Optimus said. 'Real smooth Prime. He won't suspect a thing now' Optimus silently berated himself. He'd sounded down right rude. Koji would be suspicious now.

"Yeah. Axel mentioned something about a tracking device," Koji smiled deviously.

Meanwhile Sparter tried to keep the look of shock off his face. He'd faced that smile a lot in his younger years. Usually when his daughter was about to say something to get out of punishment.

"Yeah. Will discuss that later," Optimus snapped. Koji raised an eyebrow at Optimus' strange behavior showing only indifference on the outside. Inside he felt a pang of sadness.

Sparter glared at Optimus. He may not have been there when Koji was growing up but he had raised Koji's mother. He recognized her mannerisms in his grandson. That indifferent look was what she usually put on when she was hurt, right before she ran off to be alone.

"Koji, have you been to the infirmary yet?" Optimus asked trying to sound less harsh.

"T-Ai was at the house when I got there. She fixed up my back and gave me some Advil," Koji explained. "Yes I know," he answered the unspoken question.

"And what do you plan to do about it?" Optimus asked.

"No idea. Who this?"

'Damnit. He had to ask that question' Optimus thought angrily.

"I'm General Sparter of the US Military," Sparter said automatically.

"Oh," Koji recognized that name. "You worked with my mom, right?"

"You could say that," Sparter said, not sure that he wanted to tell Koji now. Prime had looked ready to kill him when he found out and Prime wasn't the one who'd been cut off from most of his family for seventeen years.

"Dad, are you still bothering Optimus?" Xandra asked walking into the office. "Hi Koji," she smiled at her nephew. He stared back in confusion.

"You two haven't told him yet?" Xandra glared at the two.

"Tell me what?" Koji asked.

"I'm your aunt Xandra and that's your grandfather."

AN: Sorry for crappyness. writers block.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 25

Koji had had a rough week. For one, Optimus had, as predicted, kept him practically glued to his side. Secondly, he'd found out that he was going to be a father in four or five months. He couldn't be certain about when the baby was conceived. Thirdly, his grandfather and aunt had suddenly jumped back into his life. And finally, one of his mother's old friends had shown up shortly after them.

It had been a rough week. He'd somewhat bonded with his "Uncle" Ben who had lived with his family until a little while before Koji's second birthday. He'd stopped calling after Koji's mother died, apparently lost in grief for his life long friend. When he'd finally got over it a few years had passed and he hadn't wanted to intrude on Dr. Onishi, who he was sure was still grieving. By the time he'd tried to get back into his 'nephew's' life Koji was already on Cybertron. Xandra had called him after arriving in Tokyo. All in all he was pretty cool, although Koji worried about the man's obsession with fire and deadly chemicals.

His grandfather was full of contradictions. Half the time he acted like Koji wasn't good enough for his family, then the rest of the time he was looking at Koji like he hung the moon or something. Xandra said it was because he saw a lot of Koji's father in him and he still blamed Dr. Onishi for taking his daughter, who Xandra and Janet both admitted was their father's favorite, away from him. The rest of the time he was probably thinking about how Koji was his first grandchild (his oldest cousin was sixteen, go figure) and he'd missed out on most of his life. General Sparter had also, upon hearing about what Hao Saka had done to Koji over the years, had filed criminal charges against him, (Saka of course took his family and disappeared before the cops could get to their Kyoto residence). That made Koji feel better. The nightmares still bothered him but he could deal knowing Hao Saka wouldn't be teaching in Japan again.

His aunt Xandra was, for the lack of a better word, interesting. She was a lieutenant in the United States Military but was messy, irresponsible, and acted mostly like a teenager. She took him and T-Ai out clubbing a few nights ago and now he was sitting in the Baltimore Inner Harbor ten tables down from where she was with her long time boyfriend Randy Brig. She had brought him and T-Ai there to make introductions and then had them promptly make themselves scarce. So he and T-Ai where sitting looking out at the water.

"It's pretty here," T-Ai commented.

'And romantic' Koji thought. He had a nasty feeling his aunt was trying to push him to propose. Looking over at her and Randy he knew that the guy proposing to night wasn't him. He could see the nervousness and the way Randy kept touching his pocket. He was going to have a new uncle soon.

"So, I'm guessing you figured it out to?" T-Ai said.

"That Randy's going to be my uncle soon or that my aunt has the subtlety of heard of cattle?" Koji asked.

"The second thing"

"Oh." Koji looked down. He didn't want to discuss this yet. He wasn't ready for that step. T-Ai wasn't either. He could tell.

"We aren't ready for that, are we?" Koji said.

"No, we're not," T-Ai admitted.

"Maybe in another few years we will be. But now… we need to focus on being parents," Koji said.

"Yeah. Right now we need to focus on the baby. And you need to focus on graduating," T-Ai smiled.

"I already have enough credits to graduate college," Koji laughed.

"Are you serious?" T-Ai asked.

"Yeah. What do you think I did when Axel and I were grounded? Take quilting classes?"

"Then why are you in high school?" T-Ai sounded confused.

"Optimus was dead set on me going to school like a normal kid. I didn't have the heart to tell him I didn't need to," Koji chuckled.

"You went to high school just to make him feel better?"

"Pretty much," Koji smiled. Then something caught his eye. "Randy is officially my future uncle," he laughed.

T-Ai turned and saw Randy on one knee in front of Xandra. He slipped what looked like a ring onto her finger, smiling ear to ear.

"When we're ready, it'll happen," Koji said with a small smile. T-Ai looked into his eyes and nodded.

THE END

AN: Sequel is in the writing stages. might be posted in a few days if i can manage it. It's called "Payback".Basically Koji and T-Ai's son wants revenge for what Saka did to his father.


End file.
